| Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 1 |
Page 4 |
We may be victorious also in sorrow. If we are not, we are living below our privilege as Christians. We sin when we lie crushed, refusing to be comforted in our grief. Sorrow hurts us if we meet it with resistance and rebellion. The secret of blessing in trial lies in acquiescence. This takes out of it its bitterness and its poison, and makes it a blessing to us. One writes of sorrow:
“‘Look thou beyond the evening sky,’ she said,
‘Beyond the changing splendours of the day;
Accept the pain, the weariness, the dread—
Accept and bid me stay.’
“I turned and clasped her close with sudden strength;
And slowly, sweetly, I became aware
Within my arms God’s angel stood at length,
White-robed and calm and fair.
“And now I look beyond the evening star,
Beyond the changing splendour of the day;
Knowing the pain He sends more precious far,
More beautiful than they!”
The lesson of victoriousness is one of the secrets of a beautiful life. It makes us master everywhere and in all things. Come what may, we are not overcome. Nothing hurts us; all things help us. The common antagonisms of life build themselves into a ladder, up which we climb step by step, nearer God and nearer heaven. Christ was victorious in His life, and so may we be if we put our feet over in the prints of His shoes.
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