Following God in the Ordinary Things
By Mary Wilder Tileston

      Walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.

      1 THESSALONIANS 2:12

      AMID our most trivial duties, on days which are passing in the usual round of uneventful routine, He may speak to us as never before. A quiet word may be dropped by a friend,--a sentence read in a book,--a thought lodged, we know not how or why, in the mind. We are laid under obligations to a new and more imperious view of life and duty. There is, of course, room for self-delusion of many kinds in the supposed visit of the heavenly call. But we are tolerably safe if two conditions are observed,--if, first, the duty or line of life prescribed is unwelcome to our natural inclinations; and if, secondly, it does not contradict what we know God has taught us hitherto. To listen for the footsteps of the divine Redeemer passing by us in the ordinary providences of life is a most important part of the probation of every man. How much may depend upon following when He beckons us to some higher duty, to some more perfect service, we shall only know when we see all things as they really are in the light of His eternity.

      H. P. LIDDONM

      I will charge my soul to believe and wait for Him, and will follow His providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it.

      SAMUEL RUTHERFORD