A Rule for Happiness by Clifford M. Loveland

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Feb 1, 1910

A Rule for Happiness

By Clifford M. Loveland

Make a rule, and pray God to help you to keep it, never to lie down at night without being able to say, “I have tried to make one human being at least a little wiser or a little happier or a little better this day.” You will find it easier than you think, and pleasanter,— easier, because if you want to do God’s work God will surely find work for you to do; and pleasanter, because in return for the little trouble it may cost you, or the little choking of foolish, vulgar pride it may cost you, you will have a peace of mind, a quiet temper, a cheerfulness and hopefulness about yourself and all around you, such as you never felt before. And over and above that, if you look for a reward in the life to come, recollect this: What we have to hope for in the life to come is to enter into the joy of our Lord. And how did He fulfil that joy but by humbling Himself, and taking the form of a slave, and coming, not to be ministered to, but to minister, and give His whole life, even to the death of the cross, a ransom for many?

Be sure that unless you take up His cross, you will never share His crown. Be sure that unless you follow in His footsteps, you will never reach the place where He is. If you wish to enter into the joy of your Lord, be sure that His joy is now, as it was in the Judea of old, over every sinner that repents, every mourner that is comforted, every hungry mouth that is fed, every poor soul sick or in prison who is visited.

CLIFFORD M. LOVELAND. High Point, Ga.