PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Making the Most of Life
Miller, J. R. (James Russell), 1840-1912 · 50,222 words · 76 reading sections
Some Secrets Of Happy Home Life.
"The primal duties shine aloft like stars; The charities that sooth and heal and bless Are scattered at the feet of men like flowers. * * * * The smoke ascends To heaven as lightly from the cottage hearth As from the lofty palace." --WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. Home life ought to be happy. The benediction of Christ on e…
737 wordsSECTION 62Some Secrets Of Happy Home Life.
"And art thou mine, thou helpless, trembling thing, Thou lovely presence? Bird, where is thy wing? How pure thou art! fresh from the fields of light, Where angels garner grain in robes of white. "Didst thou bring 'sealed instructions' with thee, dove, How to unlock the fount of mother-love? Full well dost thou fu…
755 wordsSECTION 63Some Secrets Of Happy Home Life.
Religion is another of these secrets. It is where the Gospel of Christ is welcomed that heaven's benediction falls: "Peace be to this house." There may be a certain measure of happiness in a home without Christ, but it lacks something at best, and then when sorrow comes, and the sun of earthly joy is darkened, there ar…
504 wordsSECTION 64God'S Winter Plants.
"The wind that blows can never kill The tree God plants; It bloweth east; it bloweth west; The tender leaves have little rest, But any wind that blows is best. The tree God plants Strikes deeper root, grows higher still, Spreads wider boughs, for God's good-will Meets all its wants." --LILLIE E. BARR. One of …
781 wordsSECTION 65God'S Winter Plants.
Nothing is sadder in life than such yieldings. They are unworthy of immortal beings. The divine intention in trial never is to crush us, but always to do good to us in some way, to bring out in us new energy of life. Whatever the loss, struggle, or sorrow, we should accept it in love, humility, and faith, take its less…
678 wordsSECTION 66Unfinished Life-Building.
Sorrow seems to destroy the life of a child of God. Its rude share ploughs again and again through it, making many a deep furrow, gashing its beauty. But afterward a harvest of blessing and good grows up out of the crushed and broken life. That is what God intends always in trial and sorrow. Let us have the ploughman'…
668 wordsSECTION 67Unfinished Life-Building.
We must not measure spiritual building by earthly standards. Where the heart remains loyal and true to Christ; where the cross of suffering is taken up cheerfully and borne sweetly; where the spirit is obedient though the hands lie folded and the feet must be still, the temple rises continually toward finished beauty. …
665 wordsSECTION 68Unfinished Life-Building.
Want of faith is another cause which leads many to abandon their life-temples unfinished. Throngs followed Christ in the earlier days of his ministry when all seemed bright, who, when they saw the shadow of the cross, turned back and walked no more with him. They lost their faith in him. It is startling to read how nea…
716 wordsSECTION 69Iron Shoes For Rough Roads.
Yet we must remember, lest we be discouraged, that only in a relative, human sense can any life-building be made altogether complete. Our best work is marred and imperfect. It is only when we are in Christ, and are co-workers with him, that anything we do can ever be made perfect and beautiful. But the weakest, and the…
686 wordsSECTION 70Iron Shoes For Rough Roads.
We shall need our iron shoes if we are to make the journey that leads upward to the best possibilities of our life. But the word is not merely a prophecy of rugged paths; it is also a promise of shoeing for the road, whatever it may be. One who is preparing to climb a mountain, craggy and precipitous, would not put on…
662 wordsSECTION 71Iron Shoes For Rough Roads.
The best friend we can have is the one, not who digs out the treasure for us, but who teaches and inspires us with our own hands to open the rocks and find the treasures for ourselves. The digging out of the iron will do us more good than even the iron itself when it is dug out. Shoes of iron are promised only to thos…
736 wordsSECTION 72Iron Shoes For Rough Roads.
So it is that life's dreaded experiences, when we meet them, carry in themselves the light which takes away the peril and the terror. The night of sorrow comes with its own lamp of comfort. The hour of weakness brings its own secret of strength. By the brink of the bitter fountain itself grows the tree whose branch wil…
284 wordsSECTION 73The Shutting Of Doors.
"Never delay To do the duty which the hour brings, Whatever it be in great or smaller things; For who doth know What he shall do the coming day?" The shutting of a door is a little thing and yet it may have infinite meaning. It may fix a destiny for weal or for woe. When God shut the door of the ark the sound of i…
750 wordsSECTION 74The Shutting Of Doors.
Take education. Many young people fail to realize what golden opportunities come to them in their school-days. Too often they make little of the privileges they then enjoy. They sometimes waste in idleness the hours they ought to spend in diligent study and helpful reading. They might, if they would, fit themselves for…
693 wordsSECTION 75The Shutting Of Doors.
"How will it be When you at last in heaven we see-- Dear souls, whose footsteps in lost days Made musical earth's toil-worn ways, While we not half the loneliness That bound you to our side could guess? Where angels know your footfall we Are fain to be. "We never knew-- So heedlessly we walked with you-- The …
727 wordsSECTION 76*** End Of The Project Gutenberg Ebook Making The Most Of Life ***
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119 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.