Precept and Practice – JUNE 7 – A Happy Disposition

A happy disposition is worth far more than a great fortune.   If God has not given you such a disposition, cultivate it as far as possible.   It does no good to brood over our troubles;  it does not help matters out a bit.   Be on the look-out for bright rays, and you will certainly find them.

The power of a mighty purpose to clear up a cloudy, misty life, to scatter the fogs, and to open the way when there seems to be none, is a daily miracle.   We see it illustrated everywhere.   But it must be purpose, not idle dreams or mere wishes.   Jacob’s vision showed him the ladder leading heaven-ward, but it did not offer him an easy way up;  it took long years and many a hard battle with self and sin to enable him to climb higher.

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW