| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 10 |
Page 5 |
We should keep all that will enrich our character that will sweeten our memory that will make music in our hearts in the after years, but things that will vex us and worry us as we think of them we are to forget.
“Let us forget the things that vexed and tried us,
The worrying things that caused our souls to fret;
The hopes that, cherished long, were still denied us,
Let us forget.
“Let us forget the little slights that pained us,
The greater wrongs that rankle sometimes yet;
The pride with which some lofty one disdained us
Let us forget.
“Let us forget our brother’s fault and failing,
The yielding to temptations that beset,
That he perchance, though grief be unavailing,
Cannot forget.
“But blessings manifold, past all deserving,
Kind words and helpful deeds, a countless throng,
The fault o’ercome, the rectitude unswerving,
Let us remember long.
“The sacrifice of love, the generous giving,
When friends were few, the handclasp warm and strong,
The fragrance of each life of holy living,
Let us remember long.
“Whatever things were good and true and gracious,
Whate’er of right has triumphed over wrong,
What love of God or man had rendered precious,
Let us remember long.”
We are to win the high altitudes in life by leaving and forgetting the things that are behind. Oh, if we could only get away from our past! It holds us in chains. It enmeshes us, so that we cannot get disentangled from it. “Remember Lot’s wife,” how it dragged her back when the angels were trying to rescue and save her, so that she was whelmed in the salt tide and perished.
Many people are lost by clinging to their past. They have allowed it to be unworthy. When Cardinal Mazzarin was near to death, it is said a courtier saw him walking about the great halls of his palace, gazing on the magnificent pictures, the statuary and works of art. “Must I leave it all? Must I leave it all?” he was heard to murmur despairingly. These were his treasures, the accumulation of a long life of wealth and power. These were the things he had cared for, and they were things he could not take with him. He must leave them to the moth and rust. We must beware of our earthly entanglements. We should forget the things of the past by having our hearts filled with the glory of things to come.
Page 5
<< Prior Page 1 2 3 4 5 Next Page >>