The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1916-04-06
TAKING CARE OF THE MINUTES.

1t is intended that We should get all the
joy out of life that is possible, yet there are
some of US who, while recognizing this fact
persist in nursing the sorrows that some
times fling their shadows across our lives
We forget that there is scarcely condition
that could not be worse and on the con-
trary, we believe in the first freshness of
misfortune that we suffer more than any,
one else could. Our own crosses loom
larger than those Of others, and We are
tempted to make no effort to push our way
through the dark places into which we have
fallen. Even when the voice of hope which
has been silence perhaps for many months
begins to make its soft appeal, it's first timid
call barely sounds across our souls. We
refuse to listen for time, at least, and in
this way defer our rehabilitation. We can
live down our misfortune if we only make
fair effort; indeed, there is nothing else
for many of US to do. The world has small
use for the gloomy, dispondent man; he is
looked upon as a somewhat eccentric be-
ing, out of place in world of brightness,
and unless such person can overcome his
natural tendency to despair he will find life
ali the darker and harder for him. We owe
it to ourselves to look upon the brighter
side Of things, no matter how heavy the
heart is or how little interested we NAV be
in the demands that are made upon US. Few
of US have escaped distress of some kind,
or have been spared the mockery which
fate sometimes makes of life, but lust the
same we know, as we'll as every one else
does, that such periods of depression can
not last forever and that some time in the
future conditions will change, as the wind
shifts from time to time, and we shall be
our normal selves again.
There is really nothing else for US to do
but go on living out the minutes as worthily
as We can and leave the months and years
to God. If we can succeed in doing this
we shall succeed in solving the problem OF
life for, after all, when we come to consider
the moral side Of life the most that is asked
of US is to take care of the present. 1t is
possible, of course, to make each minute
of life tell one way or the other, yet we dc
not, as rule, pay much attention to the
minutes. We do not like to concern our
selves with the small details of existence
we aspire to larger tasks and try to mould
our lives in a. big way. We try to think in
years, as it were, to cover large spaces oil
time, and sometimes We are prodigal of the
precious moments which really mean much
to u.s. They speak language of their own
these minutes Of our lives; they hold OUT
joys and our sorrows, cur blessings ano
our crosses, our temptations and our VIC
tories. There is difficulty in understanding
their meaning and in making them power
for good in our lives. Yet we play with
them at times, and refuse to take then
seriously unless some emergency forces
them upon our attention. tits easy to take
no note of them, to throw them aside, as il
were, and forget all about them, until some
crisis in like makes US see beyond question
how We have squandered them. In only q
short while the minutes grow into hours
the hours into days, the days into years
and retrospection shows US only too clearly
how Indifferent we really have been to our
individual welfare. The minutes that we
spend in rebellion to His will when we are
under the heavy pressure of affliction are