Little Tasks
I remember hearing a story a good number of years ago. It went something like this:
There was once an old man who went out every day for a long walk. He used to carry a little can of oil with him – just like the one you use for your bicycle. When this old man passed through a door that squeaked, he would pour some oil on the hinges. If, as he walked along the road, he found a gate that was hard to open or close, he would oil the latch and make it easier to move. And so, day by day he employed himself in his way. You see, he was retired from work and not able to do much, but he found happiness and enjoyment in this little task that he did.
Lots of people in the town that he lived in thought he was rather queer and cranky, but the old man went steadily on, filling up his oil can and oiling over the irritating noises he came across on his journeys each day. You know, many of the people who laughed at him had cause later on to be thankful for him and his oil can.
Well, boys and girls, perhaps you are thinking that was only a very simple little thing to do, and so it is, but the important thing is he did it quietly, regularly, and with no thought of reward. What he did was an act of kindness, not only for his friends, but also for people he didn’t even know.
Now, there’s a lesson for all of us in this little story. The Bible says, “Be kindly affectioned one to another.” That simply means, boys and girls, be nice and kind to one another. Learn from some boys and girls in the Bible who were nice and kind: like Miriam, who watched over Moses when he was in his basket in the bulrushes; the young girl who told Naaman how he could be healed of his leprosy; and the boy who gave Jesus his lunch of five loves and two fishes. So you see that this is something that even the youngest boy or girl can do.
Remember our text again: “Be kindly affectioned one to another.