The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-11-10

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
Every situation in life is q school
room, every experience a teacher.
There is no event. no incident no hour,
without It's message. We are All learn
ers and each Of as receives individual
instruction. One lesson, though,
there is for all alike; it is perhaps the
greatest lesson in the curriculum Of
life-the lesson of suffering. The
deepest, largest and most
truths in Gods storehouse of knowl-
edge are taught US by this dark-robed
teacher who is xariously named Pain,
Sorrow, Disappointment Burdens.
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Our dark days teach US the beauty of
our bright days. We would seldom
thank God for our special mercies
were some of them not withdrawn &C
easiOnally for a season:
Sorrow sends US to the Saviour. As
a bird flies to her nest at the approach
of a storm, SO the soul of a Christian
hastens to Jesus when clouds of adver-
sity arise Strangely enough, even dis
ciples sometimes think that they can
get along without divine help when the
days are fair. Therefore the need of
trouble to drive US to the breast Of the
Saviour who is u comfort, u shell
ter, and u strength.
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In lark days we most clearly see the
Light of the World.
Bright lives are grown on lark days.
Earth's choicest saints are those that
have passed through the deepest trials.
Troubles teach trust.
& X X
It is good for US to realize our de-
pendence upon God, for only h can
We know peace and security. If we
can find out u helplessness in no
other way than by being thrown pros
trate by trouble, still let us sing aloud
because we have learned our lesson at
any cost. No price is too great to pay
for a sense of complete dependence
upon God.
The dark days should never dim
hope, but they should awaken humfl-
ity.. God does not design any trial for
despair, yet it is pleasing to him
if we learn that in ourselves there is
no reason for boastfulness or pride.
We are safest and strongest when we
are conscious of our own limitations.
Our mistakes, our failures, sins,
our burdens, and our sorrows, all
speak the message that we should be
humble. If we are so often and sc
easily overcome. why then be puffed
up and self-satished?
Sorrow Is a school of strength.
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Sorrow teaches sympathy. Only the
soul that has suffered can be a brother
to the soul that is suffering. Ability to
enter into another's feelings, and to
lift up the hearts that are bowed down
is one of the lessons learned in the
dark days. Because Jesus was a man
of sorrows, every suffering soul that
has known him has found him kind.
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The lonely learn the love of God.
4 X X
Tears wash the eyes. Few Of US can
see clearly until we lave sorrowed.
LIES vital interests. both our W and
our n~eighbors' become palmer to us
after we have sojourned in the dark
valley. one Of tribulation's compen-
sations is that we learn what to value
in life, n how to understand our
selves and our neighhors.
4 II y
The essentials and the non-essen-
tails of life are c%uriously bound up
n inter-mingled. Most persons are
pursuing ends that are really not wor-'
thy of immortals. Often it is not I'M
til shut up in the chamber Of grief
that a person learns what is worth
while in life. Poverty, Disappointment,
or the death Of a loved one u over
take some men before they can per-
ceive what are enduring and worthy
goals for a sou