Taken from Mrs. Charles E. Cowman’s “Streams in the Desert,” Vol. Two
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” (Matthew 7:12).
This universal language is the language of action. I understand that you have a kind heart, because your kindness takes shape in a friendly letter or deed – I can see your kindness. I understand how much you love your family because your love for them takes form in hard working devotion to their needs. In the same way we come to know the Love of God. For long centuries God in His wisdom spoke to men through words, on the lips of prophets and priests and sages and saints, and men could not be sure what God was like. Then when they were ready, He spoke to them in a new way: ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, full of Grace and Truth.’ God’s Love took form in a Life which we could see, in a death upon a Cross which we beheld; and ever since then, men have said, ‘God is like Jesus Christ. God’s Love is like the Cross.’ This was the ‘Incarnation,’ taking shape in flesh before the eyes of people. God has spoken, at last, in the universal language of action!
George Washington, one day, had a tempting opportunity to preach a sermon on loving your neighbor. He was riding across the farmlands with a company of gentlemen, when the last horse over a stone fence knocked over a number of stones, leaving a large opening. Washington suggested that they stop and repair it, but the others shrugged their shoulders; so he said nothing more, and rode on with them. When the party disbanded, one of them, riding homeward, found Washington back in the farmer’s fence, carefully replacing the stones. ‘Oh, General,’ chattered the man, ‘You are too big a man to be doing a thing like that.’ ‘No,’ answered Washington, gravely inspecting his work, ‘I’m just the right size.’ Washington was preaching his sermon in the universal language of action. Words would have bored the farmer no end, but the deed of neighborliness spoke for itself.
If you want, with all your heart, to tell someone that you love them, say as little as possible about it, and show them in loving deeds. — SSPEC