An Unprofitable Habit

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 3, 1865

An Unprofitable Habit.

SoME persons are in the habit of dwelling upon, and greatly magnifying every little injury they receive at the hands of others. They thus render themselves very disagreeable to those into whose ears they are continually pouring their complaints; and at the same time greatly injure themselves in the estimation of such, whilst they are contributing very much to their own personal misery. How much better would it be were such persons to bury their little troubles, or at least to keep them entirely out of sight! It is to be presumed that they do not sufficiently reflect upon the true nature of their conduct, else they would certainly be more careful to avoid it than they are. Jamieson forcibly exposes the great folly of such conduct by the following illustration: "A man strikes me with a sword, and inflicts a wound. Suppose, instead of binding up the wound, I am showing it to everybody, and after it has been bound up I am taking off the bandage continually and examining the depth of the wound, and make it fester till my limb becomes greatly inflamed and my general health is materially affected; is there a person in the world who would not call me a fool? Now such a fool is he who, by dwelling upon little injuries, or insults, or provocations, causes them to agitate or inflame his mind, How much better were it to put a bandage over the wound, and never look at it again!"—German Reformed Messenger.