| The Beauty of Self Control |
Chapter 16 |
Page 5 |
Things are not going so terribly wrong, after all, as the croakers think they are. There are always a lot of things that are good and comfortable – far more indeed than there are painful and unhappy things. We have only to make up our minds to find the bright spots and make the most of them. One January day, when the house was cold, the dog was trying to be as warm as he could. He was lying in the parlour, which was not heated. Along in the forenoon a beam of sunshine came through the blinds and fell on the floor, making a patch of sunshine on the carpet. The drowsy, shivering dog saw it, got up, stretched himself, walked to the spot and lay down in the bright place. The dog was a philosopher. Instead of staying in the chill and darkness when he saw even an inch or two of warmth and light he appropriated it. There is not one of us who on the gloomiest day of his life cannot find at least a square yard of sunshine somewhere. Let us go and lie down in it and take the comfort we can find in it.
There are a good many people who make life harder for others by indulging in this habit of always taking disheartening views and always saying dispiriting things. They call on a sick friend and tell him how ill he looks, and the man is worse all day afterwards. They meet one who is in some trouble and sympathize with him in such a way that the trouble seems ten times greater. They come upon a neighbour who is discouraged, and they talk with him until he is almost in despair. They think they are showing a kindly spirit in all this, but they are really only adding to the burdens of their friends and making life infinitely harder for them.
There are men in these very days that are evermore putting doubts into the minds of others and starting questions which only cause fear and uncertainty. We ought not to add to the spiritual perplexity of men by holding up shreds of torn pages, as if our Christianity were something riddled to tatters by those who have thrown away their childhood faith. “Give me your beliefs,” said Goethe; “I have doubts enough of my own.” So people are saying to us, “Give us your hopes, your joys, your sunshine, your confidence, your uplifting faiths; we have sorrows, tears, clouds, fears, uncertainties enough of our own.” People need to be helped, not hindered.
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