Sacrificing for the Good of Others

"Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." Psalms 17:11

SUN of the soul, Thou light divine,
Around and in us brightly shine,
To strength and gladness wake us.
Where Thou shinest, life from heaven
There is given; we before Thee
For that precious gift implore Thee.
MICHAEL SCHIRMER

THAT is what our sacrifice of ourselves should be--"full of life." Not desponding, morbid, morose; not gloomy chilly, forbidding; not languid, indolent, inactive; but full of life, and warmth, and energy; cheerful, and making others cheerful; gay, and making others gay; happy, and making others happy; contented, and making others contented; doing good, and making others do good, by our lively vivid vitality,--filling every corner of our own souls and bodies, filling every corner of the circle in which we move, with the fresh life-blood of a warm, genial, kindly Christian heart. Doubtless this requires a sacrifice; it requires us to give up our own comfort, our own ease, our own firesides, our dear solitude, our own favorite absorbing pursuits, our shyness, our reserve, our pride, our selfishness.
ARTHUR P. STANLEY

By Mary Wilder Tileston taken from "Joy and Strength"