"I Grew Under the Load"

"The cross which my Lord bids me take up and carry may assume different shapes.  I may have to content myself with a lowly and narrow sphere, when I feel that I have capacities for much higher work.  I may have to go on cultivating year after year, a field which seems to yield me no harvests whatsoever.  I may be bidden to cherish kind and loving thoughts about someone who has wronged me—be bidden to speak to him tenderly, and take his part against all who oppose him, and crown him with sympathy and succor.  I may have to confess My Master among those who do not wish to be reminded of Him and His claims.  I may be called to “move among my race and show a glorious morning face,” when my heart is breaking.

"There are many crosses, and every one of them is sore and heavy.  None of them is likely to be sought out by me of my own accord.  But never is Jesus so near me as when I lift my cross, and lay it submissively on my shoulder, and give it the welcome of a patient and unmurmuring spirit.

"He draws close, to ripen my wisdom, to deepen my peace, to increase my courage, to augment my power to be of use to others, through the very experience which is so grievous and distressing, and then—as I read on the seal of one of those Scottish Covenanters whom Claverhouse imprisoned on the lonely Bass, with the sea surging and sobbing round—"I grew under the load"."—Alexander Smellie

This passage has ministered to me over various years and experiences and remains sweet salve.  Last year, I had the distinct experience of seeing Bass Rock, and many other Covenanter sites – faith building stories, indeed.  If you are not acquainted with Alexander Smellie (pronounced Smiley) you’re missing out!  His book Men of the Covenant, about the Scottish Covenanters, is a prize and a simply amazing read.  He’s also written about Robert Murray M’Cheyne, another prize.  He himself was a pastor during the WWI era.  It is said of him, “Such was his adoration of the Lord Jesus that his audiences forgot the speaker and fastened their thoughts on the Lord Himself and no one can say a greater thing than that about any man.”