| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 3 |
Page 7 |
God wants us to go forth every day as sowers of light and gladness. Whether we mean it so or not, we are sowers, every step of our way. The question is what kinds of seed do we sow? The Master, in one of his little stories, tells us of an enemy who, after the farmer had scattered good seed over his field, came stealthily and secretly sowed tares among the wheat. What seed did you sow yesterday? Did you plant only pure thoughts, good thoughts, holy thoughts, white, clean thoughts, gentle, loving thoughts, in the gardens of people’s lives where you sowed? It is a pitiful thing for anyone to put an evil thought into the mind of another.
God wants us to sow only good seeds. Seeds of light! He wants us to make this world brighter. Seeds of gladness! He wants us to make the world happier. Some people do neither. They sow gloom, discouragement, wherever they go. They sow sadness, pain, grief. If we are this kind of sower, we are missing our mission, we are disappointing God, we are making the world less bright and less happy.
But think of one who, wherever he goes, sows only seeds of light and gladness. His life is pure, for only hands can sow seeds of light. He is a sincere lover of men, as his Master was. He never thinks of himself. He never spares himself when any other needs his service. His is anxious only to do good to others, to make them better, to make them gladder. Let us be sowers of light and of gladness always and everywhere. Thus shall we help Christ to change deserts into rose gardens and to fill the world with light and love.
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