The Missionary | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 16, 1881

The Missionary.

The Master stood in his garden, Among the lilies fair, Which his own right hand had planted And trained with tenderest care.

He looked at their snowy blossoms, And marked with observant eye That his flowers were sadly drooping, For their leaves were parched and dry.

My lilies need to be watered, The heavenly Master said; Wherein shall I draw it for them, And raise each drooping head?

Close to his feet on the pathway, Empty and frail and small, An earthen vessel was lying, That seemed of no use at all.

But the Master saw and raised it From the dust in which it lay, And smiled as he gently whispered, This shall do my work to-day.

"It is but an earthen vessel, But it lay so close to me; It is small but it is empty, That is all it needs to be."

So to the fountain he took it, And filled it full to the brim; How glad was the earthen vessel To be of use to him!

He poured forth the living water Over his lilies fair, Until the vessel was empty, And again he filled it there.

He watered the drooping lilies Until they revived again; And the Master saw with pleasure That his labor had not been in vain.

His own hand had drawn the water Which refreshed the thirsty flowers, But he used the earthen vessel To convey the living showers.

And to itself it whispered, As he laid it aside once more, "Still will I lay in his pathway, Just where I did before."

"Close would I keep to the Master, Empty would I remain; And some day he will use me To water his lilies again."