I first came across the short story “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry in my Math class. While the teacher wrestled with complex numbers on the blackboard, I snuck a look at the book in my hand every couple of minutes – reading a few sentences to make the seemingly endless hour more bearable. Allow me to condense the story into a few sentences for the purposes of this article.
The story takes place in New York City in the early part of the 20th century. It revolves around the lives of two dear friends – Sue and Johnsy – who share a studio apartment on the top of a derelict building. Sadly, Johnsy falls sick with pneumonia when winter arrives. The doctor who visits them declares the outcome looked bleak for Johnsy since it seemed like she had lost the desire to go on living. He predicts a better chance of survival if Johnsy mustered up the interest to ask Sue about the latest winter fashions – thereby expressing a will to live.
Deeply troubled, Sue goes back into the apartment to find Johnsy carefully observing the leaves on a vine growing outside their window on the blank side of a brick house. Somberly, she tells Sue that when the last leaf falls, she will die. Sue tries to dissuade her as she works on an illustration for a magazine to make money to buy food for them. However, Johnsy is adamant. She is convinced that she has nothing more to live for and that her life is tied to that of the vine.
In despair, Sue goes down to look for their neighbor Behrman who is an old, unsuccessful artist who hopes to one day paint his “masterpiece” despite decades of failure. When he hears about Johnsy’s poor health and her belief about the leaves on the vine, he shouts his contempt and derision for such “idiotic imaginings”. Not feeling much better after her conversation with Behrman, Sue climbs upstairs and fearfully peers out the window at the ivy vine. She sees that it has begun to rain steadily – not ideal for the few leaves left behind.
The next morning Johnsy asks for the blinds to be opened the minute she wakes up. And behold, they see that one leaf has withstood the pouring rain. It was the last leaf on the vine. After waiting a whole day for it to fall and seeing no signs of it happening, Johnsy begins to feel penitent at the flippant manner in which she considered death. Repenting of her sin, she asks Sue to bring her a bowl of soup and a mirror.
In a couple of days, the doctor pronounces Johnsy cured. Before he leaves, he informs Sue that her downstairs neighbor Behrman had died after being ill for two days. Apparently, Behrman had stayed out all night in a violent storm to paint a realistic-looking leaf onto the wall outside Sue and Johnsy’s window. Consequently, he catches pneumonia from being exposed to the harsh cold and rain and passes away. The last leaf, the one that stirred hope in Johnsy, was in fact, Behrman’s painting. When Sue tells Johnsy this, she remarks that Behrman had finally painted his “masterpiece.”
I have thought about this story many times over the years. Just like Behrman, many of us might not think we lead very important lives. We might consider our lives to be too ordinary to be significant. Some of us might even think we’ve failed at “making it” in life. But the truth of the matter is wherever you are, you can be used by God. Be faithful in the little that He has given you. “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us (Romans 12:4-6)”.
I grew up in a Christian home. Needless to say, that meant I was exposed to a lot of influential Christians of that time. I marveled at the way Billy Graham spoke the Word of God with great authority, replayed the video cassettes of the Gaither Vocal Band until I wore them out, and stayed up reading the books of Derek Prince until the early hours. I dreamed of growing up to be someone famous in the body of Christ. Today that sentence seems ironic to me and makes me laugh. However, twenty years ago, that seemed like the most honorable aspiration. In time, the Lord taught me that He desires for me to be faithful with the little things that I am entrusted with. If I just sat around waiting to be rocketed to the top, I had another thing coming.
The Lord really drove that point home a couple of years back.
I was pregnant with my firstborn a little more than three years ago. My first trimester – when I had the most dreadful morning sickness – coincided with the long dark winter in our part of the world. I spent hours feeling sorry for myself. I tried to pass the hours listening to sermons online but hunger and nausea made it impossible. I desperately wanted to eat something but could never stomach any food. I couldn’t stand the smell of anything I cooked but had a hankering for home-cooked food. It was a conundrum indeed.
A friend called one day as I was wallowing in self-pity. She informed me that she was bringing food and matter-of-factly gave me instructions on how to reheat it the next day. After I thanked her and hung up, I wept. I wept until my tears were dry. Nothing could have shown me the love of God in that season of my life the way that meal did. No preacher could exhibit the goodness of God or prove to me how much the Lord cared for His flock in the way that one act of kindness did. The Lord impressed upon my heart the need to be present for the people in need around me. It needn’t always be a grandiose display of extravagant love. Sometimes the best thing you can do for people is just to take a moment out of your day to enquire about them and share that moment of love with them. When you are truly desirous to “let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)”, the Lord will lead you “to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Each one of us is called to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). The Father, in His wisdom, scatters His elect and intersperses them throughout the world to serve as a light to the nations. Dear Christian, run your race with diligence. Have you left the comforts of family and home to follow the direction of God? He’s called you there to be a light that points others to Him. Are you among friends and family? Then let those closest to you testify about His work in you.
Whatever your assignment might be on Earth, “work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Colossians 23-24)
Remember that no deed is insignificant when done according to the will of Christ. Wherever you are, you are called to make a difference. It is a privilege to be able to serve the Lord who loved us and gave Himself up for us. In the words of Caryll Houselander, “We could scrub the floor for a tired friend, or dress a wound for a patient in a hospital, or lay the table and wash up for the family; but we shall not do it in martyr spirit or with that worse spirit of self-congratulation, of feeling that we are making ourselves more perfect, more unselfish, more positively kind. We shall do it just for one thing, that our hands make Christ’s hands in our life, that our service may let Christ serve through us, that our patience may bring Christ’s patience back to the world.”
May the Lord grant us all hearts that desire to live for Him – no matter what our circumstances are. Let our sole ambition be to lead a life that is worthy of hearing those glorious words from the Master: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”
9 comments
Praise the Lord
Praise the Lord indeed! 🙂
Eva, you have very beautifully brought out the truth what each one of us in the body of Christ are capable of doing.Its true that when people see a great preacher on stage or a singer on stage or in youtube, we tend to think that is how was can serve or be famous in the body of Christ.While this may be true, each one needs to recognize that we are called to bloom where we are planted!We need to be a light in this dark world as even a small light can dispel darkness where lighted and we are called to be salt of the earth adding taste and flavor and preserve others by our mere presence when they need us.
May our Lord bless you Eva in how you ministering to others!
Amen. So beautifully put. Thank you so much, dear aunty.
I don’t know how to express Eva,but as you say it really comforts ,strengthens and encourages me.Thank You.May God Bless your ministry.
Such a blessing to read your comment, dear aaunty. Thank you so much for your encouragement.
Beautifully said! Thank you for this powerful reminder that God can use us exactly where He has us. I needed this today <3
Praise God!
So much truth in this, a beautiful reminder to serve faithfully where we are with those who are around us!
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