The Tearful Task

The Tearful Task is a rhyming children's book that was written for, and illustrated by, the young ones in our own family in 1981. It is available as a free printable PDF download, or a narrated audio flipbook you can enjoy online.

About The Story

Many years ago, the Lord put into our hands a little tract entitled Why This Waste? Like The Tearful Task, it was based on the story of Mary of Bethany, who "wasted" precious ointment by pouring it on the feet of our Lord. The author of the tract, a Chinese Christian named Watchman Nee, was himself an intelligent, well-bred young man with great worldly potential. He chose to give up all his own ambitions for the sake of the Gospel, and died for his witness after 20 years in a Communist prison.

While not all of us will be required to physically die for Christ, we are all called to die to self every day - to constantly give up our own identity, our own ambition, our own "rights," and pour out our lives at the feet of Jesus like the precious ointment of Mary. The world, and sometimes even the church, scoffs at this sacrifice and calls it a waste - but they said the same thing when Jesus Christ died and accomplished the greatest work in history. We don't need to worry about the opinion of the crowd. We only need to please the One on whom we are privileged to "waste" our lives.

Narrated Audio Flipbook

Click the image below to launch the flipbook. Advance by clicking on the edge of each page.

To mute the narration, click the "speaker" icon on the top control bar as shown at left.

Download Printable

If you would like to print your own copy of The Tearful Task, you can download this free PDF which will print on standard size paper. The result can be stapled together or ring-bound for off-computer reading.