STRENGTH IN JOY by George Matheson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Sep 6, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 36.

STRENGTH IN JOY.

By George Matheson

THERE have been sorrowful hearts that have risen up to heaven’s gates—but not by their sorrow. They have risen on the wing that was unbroken. Their power was not the joy lost, but the joy remaining; they mounted on the sunbeam which the cloud had spared. So shall it be with thee. Do not court the broken wing. If it come to thee, thou needst not despair. Thou still shalt be able to fly. But thou shalt fly in spite of it, not by reason of it. Thou shalt soar on the wing that remaineth, the “rest that remaineth.” Bless thy Father for that remaining rest. Bless Him for thine unbroken wing. Bless Him for thy sunbeam unextinguished. Bless Him for thy lingering light. Bless Him for the songs in the darkness. Bless Him for the lining in the cloud. Bless Him that in all thy failing thou hast never been cast utterly down, for it is thy distance from the ground that makes the strength of thy faith. Let the pinnacle of thy temple be a pinnacle of joy.—George Matheson.