November, 1944
The Challenge to Us To modify slightly a famous quota tion: “He who is careful to be thank ful for everything will always have something for which to be thankful.” It is a blessed habit to acquire, this habit of thankfulnessT It will cure a host of injurious evils in our dispo sitions: self-pity, resentment, murmur ing, faultfinding. A ll these will wither and die of themselves; for how can they grow inside a heart overflowing with gratitude and praise? The habit of being thankful, once it takes a firm hold of the life, will soon- produce a multitude of other benefits as well. It will serve to turn our eyes
have come down to us, we should hardly be able to restrain our grate ful tears. That humble and now for gotten pastor of a hundred years ago (to go back no further) who prayed and struggled against indifference on the one hand and hostility on the other, till at last he' won out and a strong church was established; those deacons and elders and praying moth ers who kept that church alive over the years; the plain inarticulate mem bers who had no public gifts, but who could and did work long hours in the cold and the heat to acquire means to support that church—the church where in later days we heard the saving gospel—^are not we h e i r s of such as these and under everlasting obligation to be thankftil for them? How much we do owe to so many for a thousand common things over looked entirely, or taken as a matter of course with scarcely a nod of grati tude! I am grateful' for a plain, hard working father whose rough and cal lous hands were the support of my childhood and youth. I am grateful too (and I wish I had told her so before she went away) for a small, sweet-faced and tired mother who counted no day too long to spend in willing toil for me, and no night too weary to sit by my bedside when some childish illness made me fret ful. And grateful thanks, not unmixed with wondering incredulity, rises in my heart at the memory of those teachers in the public schools who labored, I sometimes fear, with but scant success, to beat into my unwill ing head the rudiments of education and to refine away the savage. Though I cannot understand it, I am profoundly grateful to them for their patiencer But far above this I am grateful to that long-suffering God who endured from me more than they could have done, till in my young manhood the Shepherd found me and brought me to His fold rejoicing. Again, we cannot overlook the kindnesses of the plain, unassuming believers of our own separate churches and communions: their patience with our ignorance, their prayers when trouble came to us, their tender awk ward efforts to comfort us when some tragedy struck and out world seemed to be crumbling away beneath our feet. We dare not take such things as these for granted.- For our own- soul’s sake we must be grateful.
outward instead of inward ajnd thus bring about a healthier state of soul; it will raise our joy level far above anything we have ever known before; it will go far to cure pessimism and encourage a happy outlook on life; it will help to keep us humble and make Us more winsome and easier to live with (for which blessing the other members of our families will be thankful in their turn). It bestows so much and costs so little—strange that all of us have not made more of it. Let us begin now to be thankful for each other. It will pay amazing divi dends!
Christian workers should learn that the sick room is the scene of either . . .
Blessing or Blundering By CLARENCE F. STAUFFER*
A SURGEON in a group of Johns / \ Hopkins doctors made the i. A. statement that approximately sixty per cent of the cases that come to their clinic are mental and spiritual in origin. The American Medical As sociation officially approves the state ment of Dr. C. Raimer Smith in Hygieia (June, 1931) that the percentage of patients whose physical illness is men tal and spiritual in origin is about fifty-fifty. With mental and spiritual difficul ties contributing so largely to the cause of physical sickness, religion— especially that relationship of the in dividual to the Lord Jesus C h r i s t as Saviour—should play a more im portant role than it now does in1the treatment and cure of disease. For there can be no question of the bene ficial results to be derived therefrom. * Baptist Chaplain at the Los Angeles County General Hospital, appointed by the-Los Ange les Baptist City Mission Society. He ministers personally to an average of 550 patients a month; the hospital is the largest under one roof in the TJjuted States. Before entering upon this work in May, 19A3, Mr.- Stauffer served in connection with the Dean’s office at Wheaton College, Wheaton, III., and at West mont College, Los Angeles. At Wheaton ,* he was alsb Associate Professor of Christian Ed - luatiou»
The sick room or the hospital ward is a jgold mine of religious experience. In ministering to the sick, the Chris tian worker has an opportunity to devote himself to the development and growth of a soul in a time when fear, pain, sorrow, and disappointment bring experiences that invite a new start in life. It is an opportunity for the worker to bring the patient into a new and vital relationship with the Great Physician, and to help him realize that suffering may become a means of grace as he experiences the fellowship of Christ in his affliction. But with all these possibilities to challenge him, the worker may be guilty—yes, too often is guilty—of in excusable carelessness. An Art To Be Acquired The sick room is no place for spir itual bungling. Ministering to those who live in this invalid world demands knowledge, skill, care, and method. It calls for a special type of evangelism and soul care. For this type of visita tion, workers should be chosen who have received-special training, in ad dition to their warm love fo r the
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