“For the rapture of love is linked with the pain or fear of loss,
and the hand that takes the crown must ache with many a cross;
Yet he who hath never a conflict hath never a victor’s palm,
And only the toilers know the sweetness of rest and calm.”
Every shadow has its light; every night has its morning; every pang of pain has its thrill of pleasure; every salt tear has its crystal beauty; every weakness has its element of strength; every loss has its gain. So all through life these balancings run.
He is not a thoughtful or reverent observer who has not been struck by this wonderful system of compensations found in all God’s providences. Wherever we turn we can see it, if only we have eyes to see. It may be traced even in nature. Every hill or mountain has its corresponding valley. The disadvantages of any particular place are balanced by advantages of some kind. Asher’s portion was hilly, but in the rugged hills there were minerals; the paths were rough and steep, but there was iron at hand with which to prepare shoes for the hard climbing. Marah’s waters were bitter and unfit to drink, but close beside the fountain grew the tree to sweeten them. Summer’s heat is hard to endure, but it woos from the earth ten thousand lovely beauties of verdure, foliage, flower and harvest. Autumn comes with its fading leaves, its perishing flowers, its dying life and its sadness, but it is the season of purple vintage, mellowing fruits and falling nuts, while the foliage in its very decay surpasses the glory of its freshest greenness. Winter has its short days, its snows and its piercing colds, but it brings its long nights, its social cheer, its crystal beauty, its merry sports, while beneath its fleecy blankets the roots of trees, grasses, grains and flowers are nourished. Spring has its rains, its melting snows, its cloudy skies, its impassable country-roads, but it has also its bursting buds, its return of the birds, its warm breathings and all its prophecies of life and beauty.
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