Contentment | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 3, 1866

Contentment.

A PASTOR tells the following story of one of his flock: She was a poor widow, and supported herself with rigid economy by knitting.

I saw her in the intense cold of last winter. The house was one upon which time had made such sad ravages that only one room could now be inhabited; and in that she dared not have a fire when the wind blew hard, because the chimney had become unsafe.

“How favored I am!” said she; “for when it has been coldest, the wind didn’t blow much snow on the house, and I could have a fire without danger; I can not be thankful enough; and then,” she continued, “Joseph has been at home nights almost all winter, and he could get my wood and water when there was so much snow I could not get out.”

“But do you not feel very lonely while Joseph is away?”

“Oh, no; I get along very well through the day (her Bible lay on the table at which she was sewing), and when I can see the neighbors’ lights in the evening, they are company for me. I have thought a good deal about sick people this winter; and then I think how favored I am that I can go to bed and sleep all night in health.”

I saw her again to-day. Rheumatism had disabled one foot, and she sat still sewing, with a swollen, painful limb, raised upon a cushion. “How favored I am!” she exclaimed; “when my poor Lydia was alive, I lost the use of both of my feet for a time, and she could take care of me; but now I can get about by moving my feet upon a chair, and I make out to do my work and get Joseph’s meals ready nicely. What if it had been my hands? How favored I am!”