One of the divinest secrets of a happy life is the art of extracting comfort and sweetness from every circumstance. Some one has said that the habit of looking on the bright side is worth a thousand pounds a year. It is a wand whose power exceeds that of any fables conjurer’s to change all things into blessings. Those who take cheerful views find happiness everywhere, and yet how rare is the habit! The multitude prefers to walk on the shady side of the ways of life. One writes of the “luxury of woe,” and there would seem to be a meaning in the phrase paradoxical as it appears. There are those who take to gloom as a bat to darkness or as a vulture to carrion. They would rather nurse a misery than cherish a joy. They always find the dark side of everything, if there is a dark side to be found. They appear to be conscientious grumblers, as if it were their duty to extract some essence of misery from every circumstance. The weather is either too cold or too hot, too wet or too dry. They never find anything to their taste. Nothing escapes their criticism. They find fault with the food on the table, with the bed in which they lie, with the railroad train or steamboat on which they travel, with the government and its officials, with merchant and workman – in a word, with the world at large and in detail. They are chronic grumblers. Instead of being content in the state in which they are, they have learned to be discontented, no matter how happy their lot. If they had been placed in Eden, they would have discovered something with which to find fault. Their wretched habit empties life of possible joy for them and turns every cup to gall.
On the other hand, there are rare spirits who always take cheerful views of life. They look at the bright side. They find some joy and beauty everywhere. If the sky is covered with clouds, they will point out to you the splendor of some great cloud bank piled up like mountains of glory. When the storm rages, instead of fears and complaints, they find an exquisite pleasure in contemplating its grandeur and majesty. In the most faulty picture they see some bit of beauty which charms them. In the most disagreeable person they discover some kindly trait or some bud of promise. In the most disheartening circumstances they find something for which to be thankful, some gleam of cheer breaking in through the thick gloom.
When a ray of sunlight streamed through a crack in the shutter and made a bright patch on the floor in the darkened room, the little dog rose from his dark corner and went and lay down in the one sunny spot; and these people live in the same philosophical way. If there be one beam of cheer or hope anywhere in their lot, they will find it. They have a genius for happiness. They always make the best out of circumstances. They are happy as travelers. They are contented as boarders. Their good nature never fails. They take a cheerful view of every perplexity. Even in sorrow their faces are illumined, and songs come from the chambers where they weep. Such persons have a wondrous ministry in this world. They are like apple trees when covered with blossoms, pouring sweetness all about them.
It may be worth while to linger a little on the philosophy of living which produces such results. Some people are born with sunny dispositions, with large hopefulness and joyfulness, and with eyes for the bright side of life. Others are naturally disposed to gloom. Physical causes have, no doubt, much to do with the discontent of many lives. Dyspepsia or a disordered liver is responsible for much bad temper, low spirits and melancholy; and yet, while there is this predisposition in temperament on the one hand toward hopefulness, and on the other toward depression and gloom, it is still largely a matter of culture and habit, for which we are individually responsible. Young persons certainly can train themselves to take cheerful views of life and to extract enjoyment from any circumstances.
This is clearly a most important part of Christian culture. Joyfulness is everywhere commended as a Christian duty. Discontent is a most detestable fault. Morbidness is a sin. Fretfulness grieves God. It tells of unbelief. It destroys the soul’s peace. It disfigures the beauty of Christian character. It not only makes us soured and unhappy in our own hearts, but its influence on others is bad. We have no right to project the gloom of our discontent over any other life. Our ministry is to be ever toward joy. There is nothing so depressing in its effect upon others as morbidness. Hence, for the sake of those among whom we live and upon whose lives we are for ever unconsciously either casting shadows or pouring sunshine, we should seek to learn this Christian art of contentment.
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