Power of Association
431
thoroughness that will bear inspection. The heart should be in the
work. Faithfulness is as essential in life’s common duties as in those
involving greater responsibility. Some may receive the idea that their
work is not ennobling; but this is just as they choose to make it. They
alone are capable of degrading or elevating their employment. We
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wish that every drone might be compelled to toil for his daily bread,
for work is a blessing, not a curse. Diligent labor will keep us from
many of the snares of Satan, who “finds some mischief still for idle
hands to do.”
Be Not Ashamed of Work
None of us should be ashamed of work, however small and servile
it may appear. Labor is ennobling. All who toil with head or hands
are working men or working women. And all are doing their duty
and honoring their religion as much while working at the washtub or
washing the dishes, as they are in going to meeting. While the hands
are engaged in the most common labor, the mind may be elevated
and ennobled by pure and holy thoughts. When any of the workers
manifest a lack of respect for religious things, they should be separated
from the work. Let none feel that the institution is dependent upon
them.
Those who have been employed in our institutions should now be
responsible workers, reliable in every place, as faithful to duty as the
compass to the pole. Had they rightly improved their opportunities,
they might now have symmetrical characters and a deep, living expe-
rience in religious things. But some of these workers have separated
from God. Religion is laid aside. It is not an inwrought principle,
carefully cherished wherever they go, into whatever society they are
thrown, proving as an anchor to the soul. I wish all the workers care-
fully to consider that success in this life, and success in gaining the
future life, depend largely upon faithfulness in little things. Those
who long for higher responsibilities should manifest faithfulness in
performing the duties just where God has placed them.
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The perfection of God’s work is as clearly seen in the tiniest insect
as in the king of birds. The soul of the little child that believes in
Christ is as precious in His sight as are the angels about His throne.
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is