A USEFUL LIFE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXII, Issue LXII, 18 May 1912, Page 10

A USEFUL LIFE.

It is silly to be constantly dreaming of the great deeds you think you may be able to perform. It is very likely you are destined to waste all .your life waiting for the opportunity which may never come. But since little things are j>lways claiming your attention, do them as they come, from a great motive, for the glory of God, to win His smile of approval, and to do good to men. It is harder to plod on in obscurity, acting thus, than to stand on the high places of the field, within the view of all, and do deeds of valor at which rival armies stand still to gaze. But no such act goes without the swift recognition and the ultimate recompense of Heaven. To fulfil faithfully the duties of your station ; to use to the uttermost the gifts of your ministry; to bear chafing annoyances and trivial irritations as martyrs bore the pillory and stake; to find the one noble trait in people who try to annoy you; to put the kindest construction on unkind acts and \yords; to be content to he a fountain in the midst of a wild valley of stones, nourishing; a few lichens and wild flowers, or now and as;ain a "thirsty sheep; and to do this always, not for the praise of man, but for the sake of God —this makes a great and useful life.