A Book on the Spinning Machine

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.” — from Ecclesiastes 9

A long time ago, on 19 March 1813, a baby boy was born in Scotland, in a village called Blantyre, beside the River Clyde. His name was David Livingstone. Almost everyone there worked at the great cotton mill.

David’s family lived in just one room, in a tall building called Shuttle Row. In that one room his mother and father cooked, ate, read, prayed and slept, and brought up their five children. It was crowded, but clean and tidy, and the Bible was read there every day.

His father, Neil, sold tea from door to door, and left little Christian booklets at the houses where he called. His mother, Agnes, was small, neat and cheerful. David loved an old family story. Long ago, on the island of Ulva, a wise ancestor had called his children together at the end of his life and given them one rule: be honest. David kept that rule all his life.

When David was ten, he went to work in the mill as a piecer, because the family needed his wages. A piecer watched the spinning machines and quickly joined the threads when they broke. The work went on from six in the morning until eight at night, in a hot room full of dust and noise.

But David loved to learn. With part of his first week’s pay he bought a book for learning Latin. After work he went to the evening school, and then he studied at home until midnight, until his mother jumped up and took the books out of his hands so that he would go to bed! At the mill he put a book on the machine and read a sentence each time he walked past.

The Bible tells us to do our work with all our might. David worked hard at a small, dull job, and God was getting him ready for big ones. God can use the work you do today, too.

Dear God, thank you for my home and for the people who love me. Help me to be honest, and to do my work well, even when it is hard. Amen.