A Daily Rate

“The white ribbon was of satin and bore these words: ‘His allowance was a daily allowance…a daily rate. 2 Kings xxv.30…This was all he asked her to do, just what she had strength for. He gave her the daily allowance of that.” When Celia Murray discovers that her uncle has left her an inheritance, “she had taken with joy the few words [her aunt] Miss Hannah had spoken to her about the mission they were going to try to start, the mission of making one bright little clean home spot for a few people who had hitherto been in discomfort…To be strictly honest as a boarding-house, and not a charitable institution, we ought to run it on what is paid…I would like to prove that a boarding-house can be comfortable as well as cheap.” “Two lone women can’t take mortar and bricks and build a church and preach…Why shouldn't you and I make a real home mission for ourselves right here in the city of Philadelphia, by making a good home for a few people who have none of their own? It seems to me there is as much gospel sometimes in a good sweet loaf of bread such as you can make, as there is in–well–some sermons…we could get ahold on the people who ate it, and get them to go to the churches, and try to help them in their everyday lives.” “She thanked her heavenly Father every hour, even for the dirt and desolation of the place, because he had given to her the sweet privilege of brightening a place that had hitherto been dark.” “By making herself sweet and clean, she was coming nearer to the kingdom of God than she had ever yet been.” While I disagree with the theology, I was inspired by aunt Hannah, “this missionary of the Most High…she had never married, she was simply aunt Hannah, an excellent housekeeper, and the best substitute for a mother one could imagine.” For Grace Livingston Hill, “the most important thing she did was not write books but share the message of salvation, a message she felt God wanted her to share through the abilities God had given her.”