The Religious Outlook

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 12 February 1944, Page 6

The Religious Outlook

COURAGE, CHEERFULNESS AND THE QUIET MIND What do you really think matters in the world? Money? Well, it’s true that in the kihd of life we live Wc can’t get on without some moiicy, and I always think that the man who denies that is, begging his pardon, a bit of a fool; but it isn’t really the most important thing. I’m sure we’d all find that, lot- instance, if wc were shipwrecked; and wc would rather have our life than our money then, or if your home is blitzed and burning, would you rather go back for your money than back to save someone’s life or keep your own? And never let us forget that there are no pockets in a shroud. Ambition? Power? Arc these, then the things that matter? Ambition isn’t a bad thing if it’s controlled. If you haven’t some sort of ambition, you’ll most likely become a “gutless” sort of a fellow, but it isn’t really worth living for. After all, there’s always Napoleon and Mussolini to remind us that ambition, Unless taken in small doses, is as good a poison as you’ll get. And power? Well, it’s good to be strong, to have authority, to be able to influence and sway people, if we’ve got the goods to sway them with. Once again,- we need look no further than Hitler to see the kind of mess that power can land not only a man but mankind in. Oh, no, these sort of things aren’t really the things that matter most. I want to tell you about three things (hat really do matter. There are more; but I want to tell yoti of three. Some people, I know, aren’t very much good at saying their prayers. It’s not so much that they don’t want to pray; it’s, rather that they just haven’t got the foggiest idea what to say. Well, may I suggest to you all just a very short prayer, and it covers these three things that I’m going to tell you about. It’s a prayer asking God for three gifts, and I should like everybody just to ask again for these three gifts. It’s a prayer. of Robert Louis Stevenson, and it’s very short, and I want you all to remember it. “Give us,” it runs, “courage, gaiety and the quiet mind.” Courage, gaiety, and the quiet mind—these are three of the things to-day that matter most. Courage, that matters—makers today more than ever it did. You remember how Sir James Barrie when he was elected Lord Rector of St. Andrews University, oiit of all the subjects he could have chosen he chose courage as a theme for his address for the students. “Courage is the thing,” he said to them. And the man of courage, let me remind you* is not the man who is never afraid. Courage, then, is not the absence of fear, but the conquest of fear. Many men to-day, and as many women, are showing that courage,, not only in the field of battle, not only on the sea or in the air, but in the streets and hospitals, and in countless other ways; and it may be that many have yet to show it in these days that lie ahead, and perhaps the least likely of you is, when it comes to the bit, the most likely to be the bravest of the lot. There is no place for cowards in this country. Many have shown great courage in this war. And the next thing that matters is cheerfulness. Robert Louis Stevehson once spoke about “My great task of happiness.” The only man who has a right to be miserable, it seems to me, is the man who doesn’t believe in God. For him life has no hope, and no purpose, and no future. And the man who has the most, right to be cheerful is the fellow who follows and believes in Jesus Christ. A miserable Christian is a contradiction, for the true Christian is the bearer of the Good News and not the news of the world. And it’s an infectious thing this cheerfulness, as infectious, as measles, but much more pleasant. I shall never forget hearing the story of a boy who had a bedridden mother, who was now depending on him. The job worked at was a tough job, an unpleasant job, and -the folk he worked with were a rotten crowd, and he hated the job. He was unhappy, but he daren’t pack up his job, for his mother was dependent on him. He had the courage to stick it, and to keep out of it, and sometimes coming back tired and unhappy, he feared he might make his mother tired and unhappy, too, so he put outside the door of her room, “Remember to smile,” and as he entered, whatever he was feeling like, he smiled. And so she, thinking that he was happy, was happy, too, and by cheering her up he kept her fitter and brought her through. Oh. yes, it’s a great thing this keeping cheerful; And didn’t our Lord say once to His followers: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world?” And we are the Conqueror’s men. And the last gift that I want you to ask for is the gift of the quiet mind—the mind, that is, well, is, how shall we put it, “at rest with God.” The best pillow a tellow can have, whether in his home or his billet, in the desert, or in death, is a good conscience. And we’ve got to live this life so that we can always look our real friends in the face unashamed, and, at last, our Maker, God. And the quiet mind —you know how important that is, whether it’s in a raid or in battle, in making a decision, in bringing comfort to folks--how very important that is all through our lives. And one thing that, above ill. gives us the quiet mind is absolute faith and trust in God. Sometimes people get a bit worried, because, with all their faith and trust in God, God doesn’t seem to answer thenprayers. Yet all the time He is answering, though, perhaps, sometimes His answer is not quite what We expect and may sometimes be “No”: sometimes His answer is just the opposite fro in what you ask. “Give me, O Lord, courage, gaiety, and the quiet, mind.” Take that as your prayer this week. Take il with you all through your life: each morning before you set out, each night when the day is done.—From the Radio Padre, R. Selby Wright.