Putnam County herald. (Cookeville, Tenn.) 1903-1922, 1915-07-01
cAIckAsHA, OKLA.


well. You see it rains in Oklahoma
somtimes, and sometimes it doesn't
Now at present we are blessd with
this element.,As things looks prosper
Gus for us this year, we are thank
full, but not so much so as we should
be and friends and readers. I'll now
say he who is postponing the time
for happiness until he attains to q
certain place. fixed by ambition. or un.
til he has acquired certain possessions,
or or until he has found place of
residence that fulfills completely his
ideal OF happy environment Is being led
by false hope; he is chasing an
ignis fatuus, following false lead
that takes him nowhere, Such delay
of the time Of contentment, which is
so conducive to happiness, is to re-
pent Of a belief that the things Of the
world are capable Of supplying q
harmonious state. Happiness Is .
mental and spiritual state, and not .
result OF topography, material acqui-
sitions Of spiritual satisfaction is
not derivable from material things;
the failure Of SO many to realize this
Is accounted for by the apostle, whom
he said, "The material man receiveth
not the things Of the spirit Of God
for they are foolishness uno him meth
er can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned."Q Cor.2:14)
The fact that they are spiritually dis
cerned puts them beyond the ken Of
he who is convinced that spiritual
satisfaction is not to be found In ma
terial conditions, This thought is
inveighed against by the master chris
tian from the beginning to the end Of
hie ministry He saw the irmness of
those who realized that their hap
piness depended upon their spiritual
attitude, and the apostle says that.
"In whatsoever state / am, there to be
content. Contentment under such
circumstances could not possibly be
derived from natural surroundings
which were more conducive to misery
than to happiness. It could and does
come at such time anu indeed at all
times. Only from ones realization
of omnipotence and omnipresence Of
God. that ones spiritual uplift is not
at all dependent upon his material
True happiness comes only when
one awakes to the fact stated by the
master when he said, /" The kingdom
Of God is within YOU. When he be-
lieves that he hath said,"I will never
leave thee. Nor forsake thee" Ger
tainly there can be no more over
significant and glorious
fact than the omnipresencc Of the
most high. The realization Of this
fact, oven in degree. must inevitably |
induce greater reverence for God,
with a corresponding increase in ones
desire to live life OF righteousness,
and righteous life is always happy |
one.
Ddscontentment and unhappiness |
are caused as rule, by unselfish-
ness, directlyand indirectly. as are
most Of sins from which mankind |
suffers. If we were as assiduous in |
Dur efforts to extract happiness and
contentment from what we have, as
we are to acquire thigs we have not.
In order that we might have happi-
ness, we should discover our error,
ind reverse our method and IDEAS.
The failure to dwell on our present
the beauty Of our present
the satisfaction to be
ierived from our present possession,
ind our indifference az TO whether or
lot we really deserve the good things
We already have, account for our lack
& happiness. A little more land; lit
le larger bank account, one rung high
r on the social ladder, one other pub /,
ic ONCE. just little farther up; q
title greater freedom from some af- ,
l'ction or physical hindrance. These
nd many other things serve to keep
~ AZ / !.