| Things to Live For |
Chapter 1 |
Page 5 |
Whatever adds in even the smallest way to the worlds’ brightness and cheer is worthwhile. One who plants a flower in a bare place where only bleakness was before is a benefactor. One who says an encouraging word to a disheartened neighbor, gives a look of love to a lonely one, or speaks a sentence which may become strength, guidance, or comfort to another, does something worth while. We never know how small a thing may become a benediction to a human life.
“Only a thought, but the work it wrought
Could never by pen or tongue be taught;
For it ran through a life like a thread of gold,
And the life bore fruit a hundred fold.”
It was worth while for David to write the Twenty third Psalm to go singing everywhere to the end of time. It was worth while for Mary to break the alabaster vase, pouring the nard on the head and feet of the Master; all the world is sweeter ever since from the perfume of her ointment. Every singer who has sung a pure, joyous song has given something to earth to make it better. Every artist who has painted a worthy and noble picture, or made the smallest thing of beauty which will stay in the world, has added something to the enriching of our human life. Every lowly Christian who has live a true, courageous life amid temptation and trial has made it a little easier for others to live right. Every one who has let fall into the stream of this world’s life, wholesome words, good words, divine lessons, has put into the current of humanity a handful of spices to sweeten a little the bitter waters. It is always worth while to live nobly, victoriously, struggling to do right, showing the world even the smallest fragments of divine beauty.
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