Cheerfulness by MRS. T. D. ROWE

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 17, 1915

Cheerfulness

By MRS. T. D. ROWE

MRS. T. D. ROWE

“If you wish to be miserable, think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, and the respect people ought to pay you.”

Why are we constantly meeting so many persons with woebegone, sad, despondent, downcast faces? One reason is found in the sentence quoted above—thinking about self. If only self could be satisfied, then the countenance would be changed. Would it?—Ah, no! It is only those who sacrifice self for some one else, for friend or foe, or for their love for God and his work, who carry habitually a happy, pleasant face.

Those who have borne the heaviest burdens, whom God has asked to pass through the most severe trials and sorrows, are those who most often have a forehead unmarred by frowns.

What a grand lesson we have learned inwardly, and can teach outwardly, when we do not stamp our cares upon our faces nor exhibit them in our manner. Let us learn to say, with Alice Wellington Rollins:—

“The inner side of every cloud Is bright and shining: I therefore turn my clouds about, And always wear them inside out, To show the lining.”

Oshawa, Ontario.