Carry an Oil Can
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Dear friend,
It certainly has been a comfort to me to know that this year has been a little easier for you, because of the slight help which I have been able to give you. I want always to stay in your life and to be to you a true friend, helping you over any hard place, giving you a little encouragement and strength when the burdens are heavy.
Referring to your position, the more fully you can forget the unpleasant features of your environment and live without being self-conscious regarding them — the better it will be for you. It seems to me that we may learn to cast all these things upon God, asking him to take them and make them work together for good. I have learned this lesson so completely, that I chide myself if I ever find that I am worrying about anything in my affairs, or in the affairs of others in which I am concerned. Of course, I must do my part always, my duty, the bit of God's will that comes to me moment by moment; but all the rest, I must put into the hands of God — all the tangles, the perplexities, the unpleasant things, the hurts which are given by others; knowing that he will take them, and out of them will make something good. This is a wonderful comfort, and it strengthens one's mind immeasurably to know it.
I am sure that you have learned the lesson yourself in a great measure — but perhaps in the matter to which you refer with regard to the superintendent, you may yet carry the lesson a little farther. Try it at least. Each morning lay all in God's hands. Do nothing which would seem to intensify the trouble. Keep near Christ and ask him to guide you at all times, and to bless you in all your associations and fellowships. Then let Him take care of the unpleasant things.
There is a good illustration in one of Dr. Parkhurst's books. He tells of a workman who was in a trolley car one day. As the door was opened and shut, it squeaked. The workman quietly got up and, taking a little can from his pocket, dropped some oil upon the offending spot, saying as he sat down, "I always carry an oil can in my pocket, for there are so many squeaky things in this world which a little oil will help." Dr. Parkhurst applies this to life, saying that love is a lubricant, that we can soften a great many attacks and prevent a great many unpleasant frictions — if we always have love and will speak the gentle word, the soft word, the kindly word, at the right time. I used the illustration recently in my church in a sermon, and suggested to the people that they all carry oil cans, thus trying to make the world a little sweeter place to live in.
May God bless you in all your life and make you very happy.
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