GRAINS OF GOLD

New Zealand Tablet, 5 August 1909, Page 1203

GRAINS OF GOLD

THY WILL BE DONE. Midst strife and desolation, pain, a,nd sorrow, Midst wreck of joys that died e'er well begun, Midst days so dark that I dread each to-morrow, Teach, me, oh! God, to say 'Thy will be done.' Standing midst broken hopes' and expectations, Strewn on my path like leaves 'neath Autumn's sun, Dreading the future and its revelations, Teach me, oh ! God, to say ' Thy will be done.' Trembling before that future's untold story Of heavy crosses, battles to be won, Ending p'raps soon, or not till age is hoary, Teach, me, oh ! God, to say ' Thy will be done.' When dulled are my last powers of hearing, seeing, When, of my life, the sands have all but run, When, agonies of pain shall rack my being, Teach me, oh 1 God, to say ' Thy will be done.' ' Thy will be done,' oh ! prayer of Christ in anguish, Made rich in power by merits of God's Son, Spring from my heart, when in death's grasp I languish, ' My Father 1 not my will, but Thine be done.' Let us have the faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us dare to do our duty as we understand it. — Abraham Lincoln. Strength lies in character. Deceit is weakness; sham and pretence are enfeebling. Only the genuine and the sincere are worth while. In the secular affairs of our lives' few of us lack determination and perseverance. Opposition and difficulties serve only to spur us on to greater effort. Mistakes and disappointments we look upon as mere incidents met with on the way to final success. Once we set out to obtain an object we labor untiringly to achieve it. This same diligence and perseverance in cultivating virtue is all that is required to make our lives noble and pleasing to Almighty God. Ought we not willingly make this effort to win the crown of eternal glory? A habit of holding a kindly attitude of mind towards everybody has a powerful influence upon the character. Tt lifts the mind above petty jealousies and meannesses; it encircles and enlarges the whole life. Where we meet people, no matter if they are strangers, we feel a certain kinship with and friendliness for them, if we have acquired the good-will habit. In other words, the kindly habit, the good-will habit, makes us feel more sympathy, for everybody. And if we radiate this helpful, friendly feeling, others will reflect it back to us. On the other hand, if ws go through life with a cold, selfish mental attitude, caring only for our own, always looking for the main chance, only thinking of what will further our own interests, our own comfort, totally indifferent to others, this attitude will after a while harden the feelings and the affections, and we shall become dry, pessimistic, and uninteresting.