THERE is nothing so beautiful in this world as the love of the world; the love of a lover for his sweetheart; the love of a mother for her children, and the great love that exists sometimes between friends. Have you realized that it is the optimism in these loves that makes them so beautiful? How ordinary to other people appears this sweetheart, but her lover loves her, not only for the beauty of her character, which she has revealed more freely to him than to any other, but for all the beauty which his own mind possesses, and is able to conceive. Why should it not be glorified love? In proportion to his power to retain the idealistic nature of his love, in that proportion will it endure. What beauty comes to the one so beloved! How her nature struggles to rise to the loftiness and beauty of her lover’s ideal. Nothing can be so ennobling.
Then what mother fails to love her children in spite of their faults, and to believe in them, even though they appear incapable to others? What would little children do, if brought up under the pessimism of other mothers in regard to them, instead of by the optimism of their own—the sweet Divine love that ” believeth all things ” ?
Right here, let me give a word to mothers. Although one’s natural inclination is to love one’s children in spite of all things, and that sustaining love is the necessary support that God has given the mother in order to nourish the child, and protect it from all harm while growing, let me urge a greater belief in the child. Believe in the good only that the child possesses, and acknowledge as the only power in his being the Divinity which is a part of Omnipotence, and know that nothing else has control over the child. Do not allow yourself to see or acknowledge his faults* If they seem too much in evidence, consider them only as you would something undesirable in your house. Open the door and let them go out, denying their power to stay in or do any harm. The result, if you do it faithfully, will be as magic, and your child will, with your assistance, build up a character so strengthened by the presence of good that it will not have to be greatly altered when be reaches manhood.
It sometimes happens that faults of children are so believed in, and impressed upon their minds, that it seems so great a struggle in after years as to amount to an entire reconstruction of the mental edifice. That is to be lamented, for, although he may build one of great beauty, life is not long enough to waste half of it unnecessarily. So I urge upon you to try, instead of the old way of telling the child of his faults and the power and danger of them, to tell him of his powerful good, and of the impotence of the faults as compared with it. It is beautiful to see the natural optimism of the child take hold of the idea, and see his little nature brighten into courage as he realizes that he is good after all, and that the bad does not belong to him. I know of nothing more despairing than to feel that the hosts of evil thoughts are a part of one’s self, and nothing so inspiring and helpful as to feel that one is God’s thought and creation, and, as such, has no darkness inherent in him.
Of one other phase of love I wish to speak.
You have noticed, perhaps, very strange friendships in life. One whom you know to have a beautiful character loves one whom you despise, because of the gravity of his faults, and the love is so great that you are tempted to think that there must be something not all right about the former if he can tolerate the frequent companionship of the latter. Do not think it. The friendship is found on the ground of some spiritual affinity, wherein the nobler one, with most beautiful optimism, loves his’ friend in spite of the faults, which are perhaps more painfully evident to him than to others because of his closeness. Nothing could be more noble than the optimism of such a love that persists in thinking no evil, but magnifies the good. In great danger, however, is such a one, if he fails to hold firm, for the faults of the other’s personality are like so many snares,, and would destroy the beautiful winged faith should it fail to reach above the earth and find its constant resting place in the secret place of the Most High.
Let us not be afraid to respond to anyone who may reach out to us for help. Remember this assurance: “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not afraid, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, and uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness.”
Get the whine out of your voice or it will stop the growth and development of your body. It will narrow and shrink your mind. It will drive away your friends. It will make you unpopular. Quit your whining. Brace up. Go to work. Be something. Stand for something. Fill your place in the universe. Face about and make something of yourself. There is nothing the matter with you. Just quit whining and go to work.—Medical Talk.
There should be no mysticism in truth. Nothing should be left to conjecture. It should have no realm of operation save the present. It should stand in the arena of consciousness stripped of all speculation. It should stand sponsor for its own arguments. —Dominion.
” There can be no life or power in man apart from the Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us all force and power to do. Live the Christ-life if you would know and realize true power and complete happiness.”