Not what we have, but what we use;
Not what we see, but what we choose–
These are the things that mar or bless
The sum of human happiness.
The things near by, not things afar;
Not what we seem but what we are–
These are the things that make or break,
That give the heart its joy or ache.
St. Paul tells us that he made his progress in spiritual life by forgetting the things that were behind. Remembering is a favourite Bible word. Forgetting is not usually commended. There is peril in forgetting. Indeed, we forget altogether too much. Yet there are certain things we must forget if we would make any progress in life. We must forget our mistakes. There are many of them, too, and some of us never get away from their influence. We often sigh, “Oh, if I had not done that foolish thing, if I had not let that bad companionship into my life, if I had not taken that bad advice, how much better my life would have been!” We fret over the mistakes we have made, the blunders of our lives, and yield to their disheartening influence. We think that we never can make anything of our life because of one pitiful mistake, one grievous sin; that we never can be a soldier because we have lost one battle, because our first effort was a sad failure. These are things we should forget, not allowing them to check our onward life.
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