On patience - J.Ploughman
Impatient people water their miseries and plough up their comforts; sorrows are visitors that come without invitation, but complaining minds send a wagon to bring their troubles home in. Many people are born crying, live complaining and die disappointed; they chew the bitter pill which they would not even know it to be bitter if they had the sense to swallow it whole in a cup of patience and water. They think every other man's burden to be light, and their own feathers to be heavy as a lead; they are hardly done by in their own opinion; no one's toes are so often trodden on the by the black ox as theirs; the snow falls thickest round their door, and the hail rattles hardest on their windows; and yet, if the truth were known, it is their fancy rather than their fate which makes things go so hard with them. Many would be well off if they could but think so. A little sprig of the herb called content put into the poorest soup will make it taste as rich as the Lord Mayor's turtle.
Poverty is no shame, but being discontented with it is. In some things the poor are better off than the rich; for is a poor man has to seek meat for his stomach, he is more likely to get what he is after, than the rich man who seeks a stomach for his meat.
Plenty makes dainty, but hunger finds no fault with the cook. hard work brings health, and an ounce of health is work a sack of diamonds. it is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.. It is not the quantity of our goods, but the blessing of God on what we have that makes us truly rich. "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." A little wood will heat my little oven, why, then, should I murmur because all the woods are not mine?
When troubles come it is of no use to fly in the face of God by hard thoughts of providence; that is kicking against the pricks and hurting your feet. the trees bow in the wind, and so must we. every time the sheep bleats it loses a mouthful, and every time we complain, we miss a blessing. Grumbling is a bad trade and yields no profit, but patience has a golden hand. our evils will soon be over. after rain comes clear shining; black crows have wings; every winter turns to spring; every night breaks into morning.
If one door should be shut, God will open another; if the peas do not yield well, the beans may; if one hen leaves her eggs; another will bring out all her brood; there's a bright side to all things, and a good God everywhere. Somewhere or other in the worst flood of trouble, there always is a dry spot of contentment to get its food on, and if there were no, it would lean to swim.
Friends, let us take to patience and water gruel, as the old folks used to tell us, rather than catch the miserables and give others the disease by wickedly finding fault with God. The best remedy for affliction is submitting to providence. What can't be cured must be endured. If we cannot get bacon, let us bless God that there are still some cabbages in the garden. Must is a hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel. "All things work together for good to them that love God." Whatever falls from the skies is, sooner or later, good for the land; whatever comes to us from God is worth having, even thought it be a rod. We cannot by nature like trouble any more than a mouse can fall in love with a cat, and yet Paul by grace came to glory in tribulations also. Losses and crosses are heavy to bear, but when our hearts are right with God, it is wonderful how easy the yoke becomes. We must needs go to glory by the way of Weeping Cross; and as we were never promised that we should ride to heaven in a feather bed, we must not be disappointed when we see the road to be rough, as our fathers found it before us. All's well that ends well; and, therefore, let us plough the heaviest soil with our eye on the sheaves of harvest, and learn to sing at our labour while others murmur.
"On Patience" - John Ploughman's Talk by C.H. Spurgeon
Poverty is no shame, but being discontented with it is. In some things the poor are better off than the rich; for is a poor man has to seek meat for his stomach, he is more likely to get what he is after, than the rich man who seeks a stomach for his meat.
Plenty makes dainty, but hunger finds no fault with the cook. hard work brings health, and an ounce of health is work a sack of diamonds. it is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.. It is not the quantity of our goods, but the blessing of God on what we have that makes us truly rich. "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith." A little wood will heat my little oven, why, then, should I murmur because all the woods are not mine?
When troubles come it is of no use to fly in the face of God by hard thoughts of providence; that is kicking against the pricks and hurting your feet. the trees bow in the wind, and so must we. every time the sheep bleats it loses a mouthful, and every time we complain, we miss a blessing. Grumbling is a bad trade and yields no profit, but patience has a golden hand. our evils will soon be over. after rain comes clear shining; black crows have wings; every winter turns to spring; every night breaks into morning.
If one door should be shut, God will open another; if the peas do not yield well, the beans may; if one hen leaves her eggs; another will bring out all her brood; there's a bright side to all things, and a good God everywhere. Somewhere or other in the worst flood of trouble, there always is a dry spot of contentment to get its food on, and if there were no, it would lean to swim.
Friends, let us take to patience and water gruel, as the old folks used to tell us, rather than catch the miserables and give others the disease by wickedly finding fault with God. The best remedy for affliction is submitting to providence. What can't be cured must be endured. If we cannot get bacon, let us bless God that there are still some cabbages in the garden. Must is a hard nut to crack, but it has a sweet kernel. "All things work together for good to them that love God." Whatever falls from the skies is, sooner or later, good for the land; whatever comes to us from God is worth having, even thought it be a rod. We cannot by nature like trouble any more than a mouse can fall in love with a cat, and yet Paul by grace came to glory in tribulations also. Losses and crosses are heavy to bear, but when our hearts are right with God, it is wonderful how easy the yoke becomes. We must needs go to glory by the way of Weeping Cross; and as we were never promised that we should ride to heaven in a feather bed, we must not be disappointed when we see the road to be rough, as our fathers found it before us. All's well that ends well; and, therefore, let us plough the heaviest soil with our eye on the sheaves of harvest, and learn to sing at our labour while others murmur.
"On Patience" - John Ploughman's Talk by C.H. Spurgeon
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