| The Ministry of Comfort |
Chapter 10 |
Page 9 |
The flower has its lesson for us. We should never allow ourselves to face toward life’s glooms; we should never sit down in the shadows of any sorrow and let the night darken over us into the gloom of despair; we should turn our face away toward the light and quicken every energy for braver duty and truer, holier service. Grief should always make us better and give us new skill and power; it should make our heart softer, our spirit kindlier, our touch more gentle; it should teach us its holy lessons, and we should learn them, and then go on, with sorrow’s sacred ordination upon us, to new love and better service.
It is thus, too, that lonely hearts find their sweetest, richest comfort. Sitting down to brood over our sorrows, the darkness deepens about us and our little strength changes to weakness; but if we turn away from the gloom and take up the tasks of comforting and helping others, the light will come again and we shall grow strong.
“When all our hopes are gone,
‘Tis well our hands must still keep toiling on
For others’ sake;
For strength to bear is found in duty done,
And he is blest indeed who learns to make
The joy of others cure his own heartache.”
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