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HOME AND FLOWERS 



tage, for tlie pottage isn't worth it. Seen 

 even in the most practical, every-day light, 

 it is a bad bargain. Not only is it true 

 that a man's life consisteth not in the 

 abundance of things that he possesseth, 

 bnt, converse^, as a rnle the greater the 

 mass of things, the less the life. The 

 spiritual energy becomes clogged and fet- 

 tered and strangled amid all this entangle- 

 ment. 



It is often curious to see how litle im- 

 agination goes into the spending of colos- 

 sal fortunes. The possessors simply build 

 more houses than they can live in; each 

 house has moie space and more impedi- 

 menta than they know what to do with, 

 and the multiplication of all these posses- 

 sions results in perpetual anxieties and 

 fret and worry, until one would prefer a 

 crust and a garret and his spiritual free- 

 dom, to any such life as that entailed by 

 the golden shower of fortune. 



One should live with his face to the 

 morning. When sufficient spiritual force 

 is brought to bear nothing is impossible. 

 The kingdom of heaven is built out of 

 hope and belief and endeavor and love. 



"Wouldst fashion for thyself a seemly life? 

 Then act as if thy life was just begun." 



said Groethe. And it is the law and the 

 gospel. It is the only salvation. One 

 may do something better than even to 

 '^recreate the beautiful yesterday". He 

 may create a tomorrow. If one can con- 

 ceive of his life, every day, every hour, 

 as lived in the very presence of the Divine, 

 if he can realize himself at all times as 

 '^standing before G-od", how this recogni- 

 tion transforms all the conditions and cir- 

 cumstances. The drama of living is in- 

 stantly lifted up to a higher plane. That 

 which was hard becomes easy; that which 

 was sad or dull or unattractive becomes 

 invested with interest. One is living, not 

 unto himself, but unto God. He is living 

 within that marvelous, all-enfolding 

 charm and radiance. He is an actor in 

 the great spiritual drama of life, and 

 never a moment but he feels the stimulus 



of playing his part nobly and well. 



It is good to remember that it is not 

 only after death that the soul stands before 

 God; that here and now is the heavenly 

 test to which life must be held amenable ; 

 here and now must one make his thought 

 and his acts those that know only the ideals 

 of love and generosity and sweetness and 

 courage. One may thus call up all his 

 higher forces to meet misunderstandings 

 with patience and with love; to meet ad- 

 verse fortune with courage and stronger 

 and more intense endeavor ; and to so live 

 above the tide of jar or fret as to dwell 

 in perpetual radiance and sunshine of 

 spirit. This it is to "stand before God", 

 here and now, through the days and the 

 experiences of the life that is, as well as 

 to anticipate standing in His presence in 

 he life to come. 



Let one make room for happiness in 

 his heart. He should waken to it in the 

 morning as to a strain of music. This at- 

 titude of radiant expectancy can be in- 

 duced by auto-suggestion, and it is a 

 heavenly frame of mind — that out of 

 which comes all one's best achievement and 

 one's best power of communicating ra- 

 diance and joy to others. Radiate joy. 

 It is one of the most important of the 

 Christian graces. Do not let the conver- 

 sation lapse into gloomy foreboding, or des- 

 pondent and dull acceptance of depressing 

 conditions. If a condition is bad, it is 

 a mere temporary state on the way to be- 

 coming better. Out of it grows a more 

 perfect condition. Hold that condition 

 in thought and it shall be realized in out- 

 ward expression. No commentary on 

 home life could be so true as that in the 

 assertion that "better a dinner of herbs 

 where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred 

 therewith". The lack or failure of ma- 

 terial things is met with a certain indiffer- 

 ence and that the stress of importance is 

 laid on qualities of character. Any home 

 may thereby be rich and beautiful because 

 of its lofty ideas. The permanent joy in 

 life lies in loving fidelity to the higher 

 purposes. 



