p. 15 | The Wise Woman by Zelia Margaret Walters

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 16, 1915

The Wise Woman

By Zelia Margaret Walters

The woman set out on her long journey with a heavy burden on her shoulders.

Before the midmorning had come, she was stooping, half fainting. She could not carry the burden farther, and, weeping and repining, she prayed.

Then appeared an angel, so that all the place was glorified.

“Your prayer is heard,” said the angel. “God gives no burdens too heavy to be borne. Now what will you? Shall I remove the burden, or give you strength to bear it?”

The woman was wise.

She reflected that if added strength were given, it would help her in all things. Besides, now that she might part with it if she chose, she half suspected that the burden might be of use to her. So she said, “I would choose strength, that I might not sink nor despair under it.”

“So be it,” said the angel, and went away.

And the woman, with a great new strength, arose, and went out on the road. The burden was no longer heavy, but so light that at times she was not conscious of it.

O, the blessing of the new strength! More than once she found a fainting fellow traveler by the way, and with her strong arm was able to support her to a place of safety. When she found a lost child, weary unto death, she was able to carry it to its home. She could help remove obstacles from the path. She sometimes took another’s burden, and carried it till the tired one grew rested and strong.

And no day passed but she rejoiced that she had chosen strength.

When she came to the journey’s end, the angel met her, and unbound the burden from her shoulders. And lo! the bundle held robes and a crown to make her fit for the King’s palace, and also gifts that she could offer to her King.

— Zelia Margaret Walters.