MY LESSON by Carrie Butcher

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 3, 1900

MY LESSON.

By Carrie Butcher

CARRIE BUTCHER.

I AROSE one morning early, and knelt beside my bed, And for the grace of patience most earnestly I plead.

Faith grasped the precious promise, “Lo, I will be with you;” And a holy peace fell on me, as gently falls the dew.

All through the early morning my work seemed almost play; And my glad heart kept repeating, “I will be sweet to-day.”

But ere the hasting noonday, cares gathered thick and fast, And each vexation really seemed more trying than the last.

Each member of the household brought some grievance new, or loss,— ’Twas buttons off, and rents to mend, and baby doubly cross.

And as toward noonday serving my anxious thoughts were turned, Some dusty sacks must needs be patched—of course the dinner burned.

And thus a host of petty things, like messengers of wrath, Came hurrying, skurrying, as on wings, right in my very path.

And so, in eager, anxious haste, my weary feet sped on, Now here, now there, and everywhere, doing, but never done.

At last, in tearful sorrow, “My Father dear,” I cried, “I trusted you for patience. Why must I be so tried?”

Then quick the Spirit whispered, in accents soft and mild, “The trial worketh patience, O simple, doubting child!”

“Why, yes, dear Lord, I see it; and oh, it seems so sweet! You are my great Refiner, and this is furnace heat.”

And thus I gained the lesson, God notes our strong desires; But when we plead for special grace, we may look for furnace fires.