| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 5 |
Page 3 |
A thoughtful man was asked to contribute to the erection of a monument to one of these discouragers, and replied, “Not a dollar. I am ready to contribute toward building monuments to those who make us hope, but I will not give a dollar to help perpetuate the memory and influence of those who live to make us despair.” He was right. People who make life harder for us cannot be called benefactors. The true benefactors are those who show us light in our darkness, comfort in our sorrow, hope in our despair.
We all need to be strengthened and inspired, never weakened and disheartened for life’s experiences. If we meet others cast down and discouraged, it is our duty as their friends, not to make their trials and their cares seem as great as we can, but rather to point out to them the bright light in their clouds and to put new hope and courage in their hearts. If we find others in sorrow, it is our duty not to tell them merely how sorry we are for them, how we pity them, but, coming close to them in love, to whisper in their ears the comforts of divine grace, to make them stronger to endure their sorrow. If we find others in the midst of difficulties and sore struggles, faint and ready almost to yield, it is our duty not merely to bemoan with them the severity and hardness of their battles, and then to leave them to go on to sure defeat; but to stimulate and inspire them to bravery and victorious-ness.
It is of vital importance that we learn this lesson if we want to be true helpers of others in their life. If we have only sadness to give to men and women, we have no right to go among them. The cloister is the only fit place for such moods. It is only when we have something that will bless others, and lift up their hearts, and give them glimpses of bright and beautiful things to live for, that we are truly commissioned to go forth as evangels into the world.
“A singer sang a song of tears,
And the great world heard and wept;
For he sang of the sorrows of fleeting years–
And the hopes which the dead past kept;
And souls in anguish their burdens bore,
And the world was sadder than ever before.
A singer sang a song of cheer,
And the great world listened and smiled;
For he sang of the love of a Father dear
And the trust of a little child;
And souls that before had forgotten to pray
Looked up and went singing along the way.”
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