Making the Best of It

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, Cal. · Jul 15, 1875

Making the Best of It.

It is said that Cæsar once prepared a feast for his nobles and friends, but the day upon which it was appointed was so stormy that nothing could be done. He was disappointed and angry, and commanded his friends to take their bows and shoot their arrows towards heaven in defiance of Jupiter, their chief god, because he had brought this rainy weather. The Roman nobles obeyed, but the arrows shooting up into the sky fell short of the throne of Jupiter, and returning wounded those who shot them forth.

This little story is a good representation of the foolishness of murmuring and complaining about what we cannot help. When things do not go to suit us, and we are disappointed in our plans, it only makes ourselves and all around us unhappy for us to sit down and grumble about it. The arrows we shoot forth come back upon our own heads. It is much pleasanter for us to try to make the best of everything.

As a little girl was eating her dinner the golden rays of the sun fell upon her spoon. She put the spoon to her mouth, exclaiming, "Oh, ma, I've swallowed a whole spoonful of sunshine." So some people seem to have sunshine in their natures, ready to let it shine forth when any trouble or disappointment darkens those around them. There are few disappointments over which we cannot let the sunshine of cheerfulness fall, so that there will be a bright side. —Sel.