| The Ministry of Comfort |
Chapter 16 |
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Yet, in spite of all that heredity and early education and influence do, each one is responsible for the making of his own character. The most deep seated tendency to sadness can be overcome and replaced by happy cheerfulness. The gospel of Christ comes to us and tells us that we must be born again, born anew, born from above, born of God, our very nature recreated. Then divine grace assures us that it is not impossible even for the most unholy life to be transformed into holiness. The being that is saturated with sin can be made whiter than snow. The wolf can be changed into lamblike gentleness. The fiercest disposition can be trained to meekness. There is no nature, therefore, however unhappy it may be because of its original quality or its early training, which cannot, through God’s help, learn the lesson of happiness.
The way to do this is to begin at once to restrain the tendency to gloomy feeling and to master it. We should check the first shadow of inclination to discouragement. We should choke back the word of discontent or complaining that is trembling on our tongue, and speak instead a word of cheer. We should set ourselves the task of keeping sweet and sunny. It will make this easier for us if we think of our task as being only for one day at a time. It should not be impossible for us even if we have things disheartening or painful to endure to keep happy one day. Anybody should be able to sing songs of gladness through the hours of a single short day. At the time of evening prayer we should confess our failures, and the next morning begin the keeping of another day, bright and joyous, unstained by gloom, resolved to make our life more victorious than the day before.
At first the effort may seem utterly to fail, but if the lesson is kept clearly before our eyes, and we are persistent in our determination to master it, it will not be long until the result will begin to show itself. It takes courage and perseverance, but the task is not an impossible one. It is like learning to play on the piano, or like training the voice for singing. It takes years and years to become proficient in either of these arts. It may take a lifetime to learn the lesson of joy, but it can be learned. Men with the most pronounced and obdurate gloominess of disposition have, through the years, become men of abounding cheerfulness. We have but to continue in the practice of the lesson until repetition has grown into a fixed habit, and habit has carved out happiness as a permanent feature of our character, part of our own life.
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