NAIL PRINTS by B. M. Grandy

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 7, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 13.

NAIL PRINTS

By B. M. Grandy

MUTE WITNESSES OF LOVING SERVICE

By B. M. GRANDY

IN a home in one of the beautiful mountain valleys of Idaho there dwells a typical Western family. As the summer season is short, the pleasant hours of the fleeting days are filled with the busy labors of the farmer and his family, "putting up" the hay, storing and canning the fruits and vegetables, and otherwise arranging for the long, cold winter, with its deep snows and its months of enforced inactivity.

THE ELDEST IS A CRIPPLE

Mother Nature grants reluctantly of her treasures in this rigorous climate; so the home, in common with others in the valley, is necessarily humble. But being far removed from the fashion-and-pleasure-loving centers of population, the wants are few, and are easily satisfied. The family is large, the mother's health is delicate, and much of the work in the home falls upon the willing shoulders of the older daughters. The oldest, yet in her teens, is a cripple; but with alacrity seldom witnessed in those who are whole of limb, she hurries from one place to another, preparing the food for the family, doing the other housework, or helping the little ones to solve their childish perplexities. When visiting the home, one no doubt would notice many nail prints on the uncarpeted floors—nail prints so close together that the end of one's finger could scarcely be put down without covering one or more.

Each nail print marks the spot where the point of Annie's crutch has pierced the floor; and I wondered, as I beheld her activities in ministering to the wants of those about her, how many of the nail prints witnessed to errands of helpfulness crowded into her unselfish life.

Added prosperity may bless the farmer's thrifty efforts, a new house may replace the old, oiled and carpeted floors may take the place of the nail-scarred boards; but the memory of the nail prints will not be replaced with others more beautiful, for that memory recalls to mind a beautiful character, the most enduring of the things of earth—or heaven. Nail prints! Perhaps, reader, in fancy you have already viewed those other nail prints—nail prints that witnessed to a life of love and sacrifice as high above our feeble comprehension as heaven is higher than the earth.

NAIL PRINTS IN THE HANDS

Nail prints—not on the rough floor of a home, but in the hands of One whose every act was one of helpfulness, whose every thought was for others' welfare! Hands beneath whose tender touch the wasted frame of the sufferer pulsated with newfound vigor, and the clammy coldness of death was replaced with the glow of abundant life! Ministering, helping, loving hands, maimed by nail prints inflicted by the ungrateful recipients of their bounty! Nail prints scarring the feet of One who trod the path of sorrow alone! Feet whose prints would honor the courts of the throne-room of the sanctuary above, yet which willingly trod the dusty, stony paths on the sinful earth below! Feet that ever trod the pathway leading to the homes of the needy, weary, thirsty creatures of earth, and finally up the dark sides of Calvary, where the sacrifice of the ages was made!

Nail prints to be beheld through eternity, silent witnesses of that transcendent sacrifice, a sacrifice of love! O, so spotless, pure, and holy!

Through eternity, made glad by the songs of praise from the immortal lips of earth's redeemed! No tap, tap, of the crutch, in the streets of the holy city of God! No puzzled stare of the unhearing deaf! No strange signs made by the hands of the dumb! No sickness, sorrow, pain, or death—the heritage of sin! Only joy! But still the nail prints in the hands and feet of the loving Saviour mute witnesses to a great love that saved, and saved to the uttermost!

"I shall know Him, I shall know Him, As redeemed by His side I shall stand, I shall know Him, I shall know Him, By the print of the nails in His hands."