| J. R. Miller | Page 17 |
Cheerfulness also blesses others. There are people, who, no doubt, are good, — God loves them, for he is very patient and longsuffering, — but who make life harder for everyone who lives close to them. They are as depressing, when they are among their friends, as a funeral procession as it winds its way through the streets. They are always saying discouraging things. If you inquire after their health, you will never get a hearty answer, assuring you without qualification that they are well; you must always listen to more or less bemoaning of ills or unhealthy symptoms. Any subject of conversation you may start will afford them an opportunity to show their general gloominess. There is a lack of glad wholesomeness in intercourse with others. Wheherever they go they carry an epidemic of disheartenment, for the influence of one such life upon others is simply incalculable. After being for a few moments in the company of such a person, you suffer for hours from an indefinable sense of depression, perhhaps wondering what is wrong with you. It is harder for you to live after staying even a little while in such an enervating atmosphere.
How different it is when one is habitually cheerful! Wherever such a person goes he carries gladness. He makes it easier for others to live. He puts encouragement into the heart of every one he meets. When you ask after his health, he answers you in a happy, cheerful way that quickens your own pulses. He does not burden you with a list of complaints. He does not consider it necessary to tell you at breakfast how poorly he rested, how many hours he heard the clock strike during the night, or any of the details of his miserable condition this morning. He prefers only to speak of cheerful things, not staining the brightness of the morning for you with the recital of any of his own discomforts.
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