“If by doing some work which the undiscerning consider ‘not spiritual work’ I can best help others, and I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I crave, when in truth it is the interesting and exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary love.”

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) is well known as the devout, faith-filled Irish missionary who served in India for fifty-six years. Her primary ministry there became one of caring for the spiritual and material needs of more than 2,500 orphans, many of whom had been rescued from lives of temple prostitution. 

While such ministry was extremely significant and commendable, it involved a great deal of mundane, self-sacrificial work. Early in her orphan ministry Amy found herself questioning the value of such common service as compared to explicitly “spiritual” ministry.

What she learned and then taught her ministry associates and the children they served, instructs and encourages us in carrying out our own responsibilities of life which seem more commonplace than significant and spiritual to us.    

By June 1904, Amy’s orphan ministry in India had grown to include seventeen infants and young children, six of whom had been rescued from temple slavery and prostitution.  Amy and the native women of her mission compound faced the relentless, often messy, routine of caring for squalling babies.

As a result, Amy was not able to devote as much time as she previously had to evangelistic work.  “Could it be right,” she wondered, “to turn from so much that might be of profit and become just nursemaids?”

Remembering the example of her Lord who washed His disciples’ feet, she concluded the answer to her own question was surely “yes.” 

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