The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-10-12
Worry.

1
matter of temperament, and partly a
matter of habit, often partly of both
temperament and habit. Some people
seem born to be in worry all the time,
others seem to never take anything Sc
riously to heart; still others worry Just
enough to escape contingent troubles.
Where worrying is matter of tempera-
ment, the cultivation of sound philoso-
ply with regard to the ordinary affairs
of life may do much to check it. A
firm and abiding sense of the wisdom
and goodness of God will serve as an
antidote to it, but the removal of legiti.
mate causes of worry will not help mat
tiers at all. The battle is to be fought
in ones own soul, and it matters little
how slight the precipitating cause may
be. One big worry will cure many
little ones. as one big sorrow swallows
up all lesser ones. Where worrying is
a matter of habit, the only wise thing
to do is 10 break the habit by forming
one in the opposite direction.
If We planned our lives ourselves we
might have good cause to worry. We
try to plan them, but our plans are con-
tinually overruled and overborne by a
Power above us. We know not what
a day may bring FORTH" and we know
that the days are full of surprises, and
what we had not expected contin.
ually happens. 1t is right that we
should daily take our bearings and see
that we are steering in the proper di.
rection, but having done this, keeping
ourselves so is enough to occupy us, and
we have no time to worry over dangers
already passed or such as may be await
ing us. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof"
Each one of us mas just so much cap
ital-intellectual, moral, spiritual. phys
Zealand no more, to operate with in
the life given US So much of this as is
needed in each days work we should
invest, and allow the rest to accumu-
late, wasting none of it, but investing
it as it is called for by the exigencies
of life. As life goes on we shall have
ample opportunity to invest all our sur.
plus of whatever sort, and whatever
we waste. both principal and interest,
will be subtracted from the sum total
at our life's end. If all the time and
all the spiritual and intellectual force
wasted in worrying were summed up,
what a grand total would it amount to!
If to this all the time and power lost
by the depressing effect of worrying
upon the vital powers were added, how
would that grand total be swelledl
Hours and days are thrown away in
worrying over the future trouble, that
never comes, and the past trouble that
can not be changed; and while we thus
waste our capital of vitality, instead OF
providing positive good for ourselves
real troubles overtake us and give us
more things to worry over.
Neither worry nor repentance for sin
will remove in this life all the conse-
quences of its commission. These one
must bear rs well as he may. When we
confess and forsake sin we are promised
forgiveness, but we are not promised
immunity from the results of our trans
erosion, at least from some of the re-
suits in this life, and instead of worry
ing over this we should rather set our
selves to bearing it with fortitude and
turning it into the nutriment of vir-
tue" Doubtless Moses repented tax.
ing the life of that tyrannical Egyptian,
and we can not doubt but that he was
forgiven, but he spent forty years in
the desert because of it. We know
David repented of the murder of Uriah
and was forgiven, but the .'sword never
departed from his house." and the lives
of his four sons were required for the
one life of Uriah. st. Paul never for.
got that he had once prosecuted the
Church, and was .'more abundant
in labor to establish it because he had
tried to destroy it. The alcohol drunk.
ard, the opium drunkard, the glutton. the
debauchee, may never be able to re.
pair the injuries they have done
themselves, their offspring, their fel.
lows, by their violations of the laws oil
life, but when they have left off theiI
evil ways and given all that is left Of
them to walking in right ways, worry
over the past consumes the strength
they need to live well in the present
and is purely wasteful. They must be
content to take up the song of life in
lower key, perhaps in a minor key, and
sing it as well as they may. They must
be content to walk along the lower level:
of life and leave the scaling of heights
to those whose vital energies have moi
been Slapped by indulgence in evil
courses.
1t is necessary that we should take
precautions against evil; that we should
look out and provide for contingencies;
that we should make the ordinary prep
arations for what is in the nature OF
things likely to come to us, and, having
done this, the next best thing is to
await the coming events with serenity
and presence of mind. Worrying will
only upset us, waste our powers, distort
our mental vision and put us in such a
state of mind as will effectually prevent
the best use of our faculties. Y.
Tribune.