Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-10-23
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WHITENING RESOLUTIONS.
By Henry =.

WHITENING RESOLUTIONS.
By Henry F. Cope.
And when the sun was up they We're
scorched; and because they had no
root they withered away."-Matthew
xiii, 6.
The teachings Of Jesus are universal.
One does not have to be farmer to
understand the parable of the sower;
he finds it written in his own expert
ence. Despite the efforts Of many to
mystify this story it is plain to us all,
because many good words and hopes
have dropped into our hearts while few
OF them come to good fruitage
! Every man has known the joy Of
receiving the good seed. Like gift
from heaven has come the germ Of good,
the vision of some high possibility that
! has formed itself into d noble resolu-
ton in the mind. Ideals have become
our possession and in the moment when
the infinite sower seemed to pass our
way we have determined to endeavor
to realize them.
For a while our good resolutions
thriyed; we lived UP to them. Then
! some day when we suddenly needed
them we found they had wfthered away.
! The husbandry of our hearts Is a long
record of good seed gone to waste,
withered after a brief period Of flour
ishing. How can one do better? What
is the secret of keeping good resolu-
tons and making them fruitful?
Our good intentions fail because they
do not strike deep enough into our
hearts, into our affections and interests
Motive is lacking. You never can keep
good resolutions simply by rules and
regulations. We need to root our reSO
lutions deep in good reasons. Convic-
ton Is mainly matter of thinking
through a thing until the truth is clear
cut and has become our own first hard
possession.
We may begin a good course on i'm
pulse, but we never will maintain it ex-
| cept on reflection, reasoning and con-
yiction. The more you think through
your own conduct thrash out with your
self it's motives, outline it's results, the
more clearly will your goal be visioned
Let plans of high and difficult action
strike their roots deep into your think
ing.
The habit Of the right life is the best
fruitage of all good resolutions, and
habit is simply action repeated. 1t is
always better to do right habitually
than it is to have to make a separate
decision and act of will each time. Yet
one only comes to doing right habitual
~ by frequent repetitions of right &C
ton voluntarily.
Fruitful resolutions strike out new
roots in every possible action. The
only way to do a thing right at al! is
to do it right always Seize every OPP
portunity to realize your resolutions.
Do the thing in the best way even
when poorer way would seem to suf-
tIcc: do the thing determined on al
ways, even unnecessarily, until it be-
comes habitual.
II you would become courteous then
practice courtesy under all circum-
stances. even when it seems as though
yon might take off the tension a little
aud live little less thoughtfully of
others f you would become unselfish
practice the deeds Of the self-giving
life down to the least details Of living
The only way to keep the life moving
up is to keep it all moving up all the
time.
Good habits have d wonderful fructi-
flying power They bear fruit quickly.
They grow all through the life The
life of truth and goodness is not, as we
sometimes think, weary, tedious bust
ness of watching an innumerable num-
Der of actions. 1t is simply the life
that steadily sets itself toward the
good that yields ever to higher life.
The seed sown anywhere comes to
life and increases as it seiZes every
power of life in the warm earth and
the sunshine and shower. The life that
would come to it's fullneSS must seek
out it's food everywhere, it must choose
its environment and atmosphere, it
must appropriate to itself everything
that viii help and avoid as far as pos
sible all that hinders.
1t is no use hoping to be good by
dreaming of goodness. The desirable
life is the fruitage of endeavor. 1t Gull
tivates friendships that lift. it finds in
SEPARATION and nourishment in thoughts
and sights and sounds that leave the
life stronger sweeter and with greater
desires for the best. 1t does the deeds
that it desires 1t pays the price of
perfection