| The Secrets of a Beautiful Life |
Chapter 11 |
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Walk while ye have lights, that the darkness overtake you not, swallow you not up. That is, in the days of earthly joy and prosperity, keep the view between your soul and heaven clear and open. Do not let the trees grow up about your life’s home, so as to shut out your view of the mountains of God. Keep on intimate and familiar terms all the time with Christ. Then when night comes the lights from your Father’s house will shine down upon your darkness. Bereft of human companionship, the consciousness of the presence, the companionship, and the love of Jesus Christ, your unseen Friend, will become more and more real to you. Thus walking while you have the lights, the darkness when it comes will not overwhelm you.
There are many such experiences of sorrow. They come, perhaps suddenly, to some Christian who has known only gladness before; but the life is not crushed. In the darkness the face of Christ appears in beauty never seen before, and the sad heart is comforted.
Still another way in which we may be prepared in the light for the darkness is suggested by our Lord himself in one of his teachings. “While ye have the light, believe on the light, that ye may become sons of light.” There is something very beautiful in this. If you walk in the light, the light will enter into you, and you will become a son of light. If a diamond lie for a while in the sunshine, and then be carried into a darkened room, a soft light will pour out from it. We know how it was with John, for example. He walked in the light of Christ for three years, and the light entered into him, into his very soul, until he became a shining light. So it was with all who were close friends of Christ.
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