Repining by M. J. COTTRELL

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 13, 1866

Repining.

By M. J. COTTRELL

I WISH—but I will not tell what the wish was; for it was vain and foolish; and after I had uttered it I felt ashamed, especially when a lady who heard it said, “It’s wicked to repine so, Mary. You ought to be thankful that you are as well off as you are. If your parents were dead you would be far worse off than you are now. How many there are who are without home or friends.” I know it, I exclaimed, and I am thankful. All summer long there was not a day passed but that I was thinking how much I had to be thankful for; but of late a repining spirit has crept into my heart. Oh! how quickly did I try to excuse myself. But the reproof was timely. It cut its way to my heart, and for a long time I sat thinking how I had let anxiety for the future crowd out a remembrance of, and thankfulness for, present blessings; thinking of how I had thus grieved Jesus and the good angels, and had failed to show the spirit of a true Christian. And then the influence of my repining. I profess to be a Christian, and the reproof came from one who believes there is little real religion in professors. In fact, I heard her say that she believed there was more true religion among non-professors than among church-members. Would not my repining help to strengthen her distrust, and thus my influence tell for evil? Little did I realize the sin of vain wishing, and repining. How deeply did I regret having expressed that wish; and then, as thought crowded upon thought, I remembered many other repining words; and I felt grateful that the reproof, cutting though it was, had come before I had gone any further from the path of gratitude. Daily, on bended knee, had I thanked God for my many blessings, and then in my intercourse with my fellow beings had given place to expressions which would cause them to think that gratitude, one of the chiefest Christian graces, had a small place in my heart. How easy it is to wander from the right!

Brother, sister, take my lesson home to your heart. Do you say, “I thank thee heavenly Father, for my many blessings,” and then turn around and complain to mortals of your hard lot? Consider the influence you thus exert. Perhaps you are not aware that you are doing thus. It was that reproof that awakened me to a sense of my sin, and now that I see, I will try to mend my ways, regain that spirit of sweet contentment and gratitude, which I once felt, and set an example before all which shall tell for good. How great the need of constant watchfulness and prayer.

M. J. COTTRELL.

Rochester, N. Y.