OUR PARSON'S CHAT

Hutt News, Volume 9, Issue 29, 24 December 1935, Page 7

OUR PARSON'S CHAT

. $ (By "Fulax.") . DOWN AMONG THE YACHTS. The yachts arc out again. The harbour is made more beautiful by thuii white sails. The other day when I was down at the beach there were at least a dozen of the yachts out. They made a pretty sight, sailing along with the breeze. Then, while 1 watched they turned around and sailed into the wind. It seems that yachts can go with -the wind or against it just as they like. That fact that all of you can verify any day you like, is full of significance. At least it is to me. It speaks to me of life. i The first lesson it says to me is that we do not need to go with the wind; we can go against it if wo like. That is a lesson we all need to learn. We live in a dajr when men talk a lot of environment. Now environment is important. It does play a part in life. Wo all ought to strive to improve the environment iu which we live. But environment is not everything. It does not make us, unless we let it. We do not need to be moulded by our circumstances ; we can mould them if wo will. Wo can make them "help us instead of hindering us. We need not go the way the wind is blowing; we can go against it if we wish. That is at once our hope and our condemnation. It is our hope, because it tells us we need not be matercd by our eircumstances. What a hope that is. Ileie is a man who has the soul of a poet. Every blade of grass speaks to him, he levels in the song u£ the birds and m the freshness of the countryside. Cut his home, if you can call it such, is a little room in a cottage in the slums. He sees neither the grass nor the open countryside from his one windon. Here is a woman who is an art* ist to the tips of her fingers. But she has no .time to indulge her artistic tastes by frequent visits to the theatre or the art gallery. Her home is poor; her children claim all her attention; ' her husband is a relief worker. Must the poet be content to live the average life of a slum-dweller? Must tho woman settlo down to be one more of those modern slaves who arc tied to their poor homes? Is there no hope for either of these expressing their souls in poems or art'? The yachts tell us there is a hope. These people need not bo made by their surroundings. They can turn those very surroundings into poems and pictures. The history of art in all its branches is the proof of what I am writing. How many of our artists and poets were poor and lived in surroundings that were repulsive to them Yet they turned their environment to the right use. They made the wind drive them in the way they wanted to go. But .this fact is also our condemnation. It condemns thoso who try to find an excuse for the way they live 1 their lives, by appealing to the standard around them. The yachts going against the breeze say that men can go against it if they like. The trouble with men, who go with the wind that leads them to make a mess of life, is that they are weak, They have not learned how to harness the winds to serve them. They are the little ships that are blown everyway by the wind of circumstances. Here is a man who has embarked on a course of gambling. His excuse is that everyone in his office does it. Here is a girl who is silly enough to start "spotting" at dances. Her cxcuse is that all in her set do it. Hero is a woman who makes her home miserable by her continual" winning,„ Her excuse is her illness. Here is a man who is spending money 011 drink which he ought to use to buy children's boots. His excuse is that a fellow must have some enjoyment, But they arc all excuses. There is no need for any of these people to go with the wind; they can go against it if they wish. Tho yachts condemn them. Lot me give one more example. Two youug women, whom I know, sutler ' from the same complaint. One is always whining and making her home miserable. Her nature is being soured by her sickness. The other i 3 the opposite. She bears her pain without a murmur. It is a delight to visit her. She takes an interest in others and tries to make their iives happy. Sickness is softening her nature and making her into a very likeable, lady. Tho wind is the same. One is allowing it to drive her to misery"; the other is making it drive her to happiness. There is no reason for you to be a child of circumstances. Make your circumstances help you in your fight for righteousness. When they seem too stroiig for you remember Jesus Christ will help you.