Blessed Is the Man Who Keeps the Faith
BLESSSED is the man who keeps the faith. There is not in all the world a finer sight than the home where a man keeps his courage and his honor through youth and manhood and age, bearing all burdens in hope because of the trust that centers in him. The wife will not let him reproach himself for any of the failures he is conscious of, for she knows that he has won the real victories of life. His children defend his name against all attacks, for they know that he has kept his honor where other men have surrendered; and for such success as he has achieved they are all proud, glad, jubilant, for the prize that has been honestly earned. If the world applauds, they are delighted, for the best of them like recognition. If the world withholds its praise, and the neighbors think of the man as a failure, the people who believe in him are sometimes amusingly aggressive in their resentment. The worker himself takes it all quietly, and has his hours of misgiving, but the unwavering faith of those who love him is his strength. What a different world if we all believed in one another as long as we could! How many weak ones would be kept on the main traveled road if they had such support, instead of the doubts and suspicions that tend to draw them aside! If a man seems to falter in a difficult task, and is almost ready to give it up for something easier, why not give him a bit of praise? "Go ahead; you are doing finely, we are banking on you." With all our fine phrases about the brotherhood of man, how often do most of us go out of our way to show a struggling brother what the family expects of him.—Christendom.