Linda was young and popular and pretty. Born into a comfortable home with “everything going for her,” she was at a loss to understand this sudden end to all her happy times. A fall while ice skating had severely damaged her spine and now, brought home at last from the hospital, she still must lie immobile for an indefinite time.
Her continual wail was, “I am doomed to lie here! Doomed to lie here!”
“Doomed to lie and look up!” answered a soft voice one day. Turning her eyes, Linda saw a cleaning woman who was carefully dusting the furniture in her room. As she turned to leave she emphasized her words with a pleasant glance and a smile of sympathy.
What did she mean by that? Linda thought. If it is meant for preaching, I will have none of it!
But the thought stayed with her. She could not see the floor nor the ground, but through her windows she could see a large tree. Because her eyes must rest on something, they began to focus on the view beyond the window. She soon became familiar with the birds who made the tree their home. She noticed the shadows cast by the sunlight, and the drip, drip of the rain. She looked at the clouds and marveled at the beauty of dawn, the glory of the sunsets, and watched the first star that smiled at her with its friendly beams.
Those who took care of her soon noticed the change and were relieved when she stopped complaining so much. Her mind seemed to have a new occupation.
When the cleaning woman and her dust cloths came next, the girl said, “Tell me something more about looking up.”
Promptly the woman replied: “It is a wonderful thing to look up, to see a glorified Saviour on the throne of God. But better yet it is to know Him and trust Him here and now.”
“Where did you learn all this? You seem to be so busy.”
“Work is a blessing,” answered the woman, “for when my hands are occupied with cleaning, my mind is free to be occupied with Him whose blood has cleansed me from all sin.”
Then she went on to tell the story of God’s grace to man in giving His Son to die for our sins. She explained the mighty work He did for us on the cross, a work none other could do, and she gently urged her to accept the peace and joy of simple belief in the Saviour. Gratefully the girl received Him into her heart, and was saved.
“And now,” said the maid, “I want to tell you a wonderful thing that once happened to me. I was doing housework for a lady. One day I was dusting the outside shutters and she called to me to take care of the baby who was sleeping in a cradle under the trees. Then in the kind way she always had toward everybody, she suggested: ‘Lie in the hammock a while, and look up! That is what I like to do when I am tired; I look up to God—I look up and love and trust Him.’
“And that is just what I did for nearly half an hour. Just as she told me, I looked up—and I keep looking up.
“When the lady came back she said, ‘Thank you! I hope you have seen that though each of us have many different duties here, the life above is for us all in equal measure when we are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.’
“Well, I went back to my work a different woman.”
Then she said a surprising thing to Linda: “You were that baby, and the gentle lady was your mother. She lived less than a year after that morning.”
From that time on Linda lay and looked up. Her whole life showed the love of Christ, and through her faith in Him she became a true witness for Christ.
Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:7,87That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (1 Peter 1:7‑8).)