ONLY A VISITING TEACHER

ONLY A VISITING TEACHER
“I ‘m only a visiting teacher,”
She said and her head hung low.
“I’m really not very important –
“I guess I’ll not even go.”
“I’m sure no one will miss me,
No one will even care.
I’ll use this time for my own work
Instead of going there.”
So she hurried around all morning,
Her house was polished and swept.
Then stopping to rest for a moment
She sat in her chair and slept-
And scarcely had her eyes f1uttered
Before a vision came to her sight,
And standing there before her
Was a personage clothed in white.
She saw in His hands the nail prints,
His brow where thorns had lain,
His side where the sword had pieced it,
His face with its look of pain.
“I gave you some work to do,”
It seemed she heard Him say.
“You thought it of no importance,
You stayed at home today.”
“You did not deliver my message,
You did not feed my sheep.
You only swept and polished
And stayed at home to sleep.”
“Oh Master,” she cried, “Forgive me I pray,
That I should fail to see,
That had I done it unto the least of these,
I would have done it unto thee.”