| J. R. Miller | Page 8 |
It will help us in learning the lesson of cheerfulness if we persistently train ourselves to see the good things, the bright things, in our common life. There are some people who seem to have eyes only for the unpleasant things. They find every bit of roughness and hardness in their daily path. They see at once, and see it magnified, every disagreeable thing that comes into their life. They remember all the unhappy experiences they have ever had. They keep on their heart’s walls the pictures of all their vanished joys and faded hopes. T’hey write with a diamond on their window panes the records of all the trials, adversities, and misfortunes they have ever suffered. But, on the other hand, they forget all their blessings. They hang up no picures of the joys they did not 1ose, which have filled their life on so many bright days. They have no memory for the beautiful things, the things of gladness.
There are few habits more common, even among Christians, than this of remembering the unpleasant things and forgetting the pleasant things; and there is no other habit which is more inimical to joy. He who would always be of good cheer must break this habit — if it has fastened itself in his life — and must learn, must train himself, to see the beautiful things and to be blind to the disagreeable things. The truth is, there are, in the ordinary life, a thousand pleasant things — favors, joys, comforts, things to cheer — to one unpleasant thing, one real cause for unhappiness. It is a shame, therefore, to let the one bit of roughness, trial, or suffering spoil all the gladness of the thousand blessings, the one discordant note mar all the music of the grand symphony. We should learn to look at life, not to find misery and discomfort in it, but to find cheer and beauty.
Page 8
<< Prior Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next Page >>