Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1941-01-02
Church and Home
By REV. M. MIKKELSEN

In looking back over past events
we find that 1910 cannot be classified
specifically as banner year of hap
piness. Events which were mostly
uncalled for and therefore not in
Guided in our New Year calculations
a year ago have turned practically
the whole world upside down. Boun-
Diary lines have been ignored. Ma
tional and human rights have been
trampled under foot. Security of
home has become a relic of the past,
and enjoyment of life lost tradition.
To recount the unusual and I'M
happy experiences that came to the
nations during the year would not
change the plumbers and mistakes
that have been committed or halt
their consequences.
Cause and effect are so widely diff
ferent that those who suffer and they
who reap cannot avert disaster or
bring it about AS an agricultural
people we can do no more than culti-
vate the ground and plant the seed,
the rest must be left to mother ma
ture. Destruction by nature of mans
work in different localities from time
to time may be expected in the flu
ture as it has occurred in the past.
But when man, and the powers of
man, controlled by man and let loose
by him, begin to destroy his own
work we have reason to worry and
grieve.
These things should be considered
when we exchange greetings at the
opening of the new year. l would
rather be at the mercy of Gods
powers than those let loose by man.
1t is well to be prepared for possible
repercussions, well to keep our feet
on the ground and our countenance
turned toward the stars. Our good
wishes are not likely always to turn
out exactly the way we think they
should. Ability to face life cour-
ageously under reverse conditions and
to enjoy it in spite of misfortune is
one of life's rare gifts that we may
wish to possess. Gods blessing means
just that, strength to endure, should
we run into treacherous shoals.
Long years of patient struggle and
constructive skill will be required to
restore a war torn world The re-
construction period necessarily must
be long one. Disaster always strikes
suddenly. We are never fully pre-
pared for it. Afterward there is
plenty of time to think it over and
plan for the restoration
In telling the story of his life H. C..
Andersen says that it is a message
to the world as it has been to himself,
of Gods goodness and love, for, out
of evil came good, of pain and des-
pair came gladness, came a world of
poetry, more glorious, more beauti-
full than anything that could have
been made by man.
On his way to fame, the master
of the fairy tale, would often kneel in
prayer, for he placed all his conf
dence in God; if prayer failed to
open the doors before him, he would
say to himself, people have at first
an immense deal of adversely to go
through, and then they will become
famous" His life story is a hymn
of praise and constant encourage
ment to struggling humanity.
AS we stand before the door of the
new year ready to enter, wondering
what we shall see when it opens,
feel that the confidence in God, so
beautifully expressed by Andersen,
is perhaps the message that would
be mostly needed today. May God
bless us as we 60 on with the new
and untried; may we all be faithful,
each in his calling, confident that the
goal will be reached by the faithful
more quickly than by the powerful.