Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-09-03
LOST OPPORTUNITIES.
Speak the Word or DO the Deed Needes
Just Now.

just Now.
There is a class Of people who are not
what God intended them 10 he, aud
which God intended them to do. ] saw
u woman the other day step mp to an
other woman IN large aSsemblage end
she said: why, have not seen you for
many years. NO." said the other,
with o sad look. II have been going
back in memory this morning oyer our
lives; w" We're girls together and in
some ways / had the advantage of you,
but your life has been n success ana
miIe has been a total failure. And nj
the difference came from your taking
opportunities that were offered to you,
while i hesitated. and 20 did not profit
by them" That was all she said as she
moved away with prematurely old
look upon her face. There is an old look
that comes into. the faces that am
sure need not come. l do not mean
that the hair will not turn white, chat
the woman will appear like girl. Oh,
no, it is something much better tl:an
that that can come into the face. There
is sometimes a suggestion OF the Holy
Spirit in the face. Miss Warner said:
II see the glory OF the Lord on every
ehastened face" The years tell on
faces in more ways than one. II there
has been an uncomfoI table spirit Cor
years the face will tell the storw; IL
there has been lack of tenderness and
love the face will eventually becom2 n
hard one. If there is one prayer we need
10 pray very often it is From all hard
neGs of heart, Good Lord deliver us"
l have known members OF the same
family both enduring the same trial;
one has stopped on account of the sore
trial and taken hold Of God, needed the
words "hold FAST" kept hold OF God
and believed that all thin, ,, even the
most bitter, would work for the best.
Everyone can see her crowned to-day,
for there are 10 crowns like spirituality,
it never fades away. The other one,
alas! has been tossed about, has become
bitter and has lost her crown, while her
sister, enduring the same trial, has won
one. Crowns must be won, and they
are won by holding fest to the truth;
every thing moves according to law. Do
not, beg of you, lose patience, yon con
better sustain almost any other loss.
Just think Of depriving you" childre n
of the memory OF a patient mother!
Let us, from this hour, hold fast what
we have, that no man may take our
crown away from us. it is many years
since ! read thought OF Emerson's
thai made a deep impression on me. He
said: "Jf q thought came To You that
wo.lld be helpful to others, and il from
tinlidity or some other cause you did
not give 1T, you would have the mortifica-
tior Of hearing that same thought OF
yours uttered from the lips OF another,
and that person had your crown. God
intended you to have it, but you lost II
by lack OF obedience, the law OF giving,
SO another took your crown" Let us
lie wise and ambitious to have all God
wants TO give us. Let us hold fast to
faith, and hope, and love, and the crown
will he ours both here and foreverInore.
And it will require no little effort 10 60
this ut times. You will have to say:
II will not Doubt will hope! God
loves, and l will love. i must not lose
myself, and to lose my faith, or my hope,
or my love, would be to lose my best
Margaret Bottome, in Ladies'
Home Journal.