Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-06-23

aug. lS-1SrHcl FOrSAklnR OOQ.. ..JuOK. q: 0-l0
Sept 2-The Death Of Samson. .Judg .1e :2l-sl
sseptt. :, s-R4th and Ruth 1919 g
Sept. 3-The Child amuel........lSa 8: lis
Sept. 30-Review.
MIGHT HAVE BEEN AND MAYBE.
Much of mems regret for by-gones is
based on an Enthusiastically memory and
a one-sided view of experiences. 1t is
natural to consider the disadvantages
outside of ones self, rather than the
lack of a right spirit none's own heart.
1t is easy to forget the dangers and
troubles incident to a once-prized plan,
while remembering all its potencies
and promises. It is much easier to COM
plain of circumstances" than to ac-
knowledge q deficiency in ones own
powers of making the best of things.
Some men and women, therefore, talk
of ''fate" and " chance" and ennis
fortune" in a way which is essentially
pagan, and utterly removed from a true
Christian view of Gods providence. If
we have made right use of our privi-
leges and conditions, it is no part Of our
duty to complain of the result. If we
have failed to make the most of our
selves, have wasted time and strength,
and have resisted what we ought to
have accepted, then surely, it is no part
of our privilege to shift the blame upon
"luck" or "fortune," by which we
virtually mean God himself. The past
is the past; its by-gones and might
have-beens are behind and not before;
and the right use of their lessons does
not lie in unchristian complaining or
morbid retrospection.
cit shall be-" therefore, is usually a
more sensible u%tterance than cit might
have BEEN" To every reader of these
words there remain some time and
many opportunities. If but a day of
life is left, and all the previous days
have been fruitless and wicked, that is
no reason why the remaining twenty
four hours should be spent over the
might-have-been. In the past lie les
sons for the present and the future.
Retrospection and s~elf-analysis are use
less unless they bear fruit. The knowl-
eye of a past error ought to be a guide
to a future success.
Then, too, there is no greater pleasure
in the world than that of making
amends to others for the wrongs we
have done. The by-gones of life have
not affected the individual alone; they
have reached out and influenced others
with whom he has had to do. Sad re-
membrance of old mistakes is only good
when it turns the mind to the correc-
ton of those mistakes. Much more of
the past, in this sense, lies within our
power than we realize at first thought.
There are still living, within reach,
those who can be affected and benefited
by a new and helpful purpose, spring.
ing up in the place of the old failure.
A grudge may be removed, a hate may
be softened, a misrepresentation correct
ed, or a long-owed debt repaid, in one
way or another. Works meet for re-
pentance prove the sincerity of the
changed purpose; and restitution for
the past is as essential as right action in
the future. There is even an added
force, to be applied to present work. in
the Intensity due to a sense of past neg
lects. That which has been undone we
add, when we can, to that which still
remains to be done.
After all u work in the way of
amends and restitution, of making up
for lost time, there remains the duty Of
being satisfied with the Divine manage
ment of past life. If some things have
not come to us for which we once
hoped, others have been kept from us
which would have been manifestly evil.
He must have led an exceptional life
who cannot say, at twenty years, or
forty, or sixty: 81 am glad 1 didn't
have my own way" How often does
the familiar line: "Thus far the Lord
hath led me on when sung in church
or prayer-meeting, fall upon the ear
like q direct message from on high,
waking a loyal response in the heart.
We are sorry for those men and ONE
who, looking back into their lives, fail
to recognize there the shaping hand of
One wiser than they. To many there is
needed no other proof of the existence
of God than that offered by the record
OF their own personal experience. Gifts
received, joys granted, miseries es-
capped, sorrows turned to blessinos-an
these are in themselves theistic arpu-
ments not to be brushed aside. Who
can not see how his own schemes were
mistaken ones; how his bitterest disap-
pointments are matter for present re-
joicings? Who can honestly say that
his own management of life, without
any help from outside and from above.
would have been more successful than
that which has been necessary "under
the circumstances"
Even the fatalists of pagan antiquity
did not grumble about what thew might
have been if they had been given a
chance; certainly Christians, believing
in a Father in Heaven and a Son BRING.
ing lite and Immortality to light. can
not decently be less brave. Looking
upon the past, with its records of bless.