Live in Peace.
Zion's Advocate, July 1898, Vol. 37, No. 7.
It is the privilege as well as the duty of God's people to live in peace. As a privilege it ought to be so highly prized by us all -- so much appreciated -- that no sacrifice would be considered too great for us to make to secure it. When peace abounds between us and our fellow mortals, we can rest in the enjoyment of tranquility such as the waters of the great deep display when all is calm and smooth. From the mere standpoint of policy and personal interest, then, we ought to strive to "live peaceably with all men, and especially with the household of faith." Life has cares enough, take it as we may. Our sorrows will be hard enough to bear if we do the very best we can. Besides, this life is altogether too short to be spent in quarrelling, and wrangling, and ill-tempered feeling. If we would really enjoy ourselves in our needful intercourse with our fellow men, we must live in peace with them. It is a great mistake for us to conclude that we do not care what the feeling of others is toward us. There may be some who so live that we cannot afford to associate with them, but it is better for us to have their good will than their ill will. No one disputes this. If we would have the good will of others we must live to that end. Kindness is worth so much to us and yet costs us nothing. We need not go from home to find opportunities to let the light and warmth of kind words and deeds shine and glow about us. If we have been surly and cross, let us show our penitence, and good sense, by cultivating a kind, cheeful disposition toward all, and shunning the errors of the past. Home, how sweet it is, when the holy light of love and kindness pervades the hearts of its inmates! When parents live toward one another as they ought and treat their children as they should, and children are kind toward each other and their parents, what a lovely household it makes! We wish we had never spoken an unkind word to the dear parents that reared us, whose patient, tender care for us still lingers in our memory. We wish we had never allowed any other words but words of love and kindness to escape our lips toward our dear companion and precious children. How many of our readers feel that way? Stop, and think, and if necessary, reform. We cannot be angels here, but we can be kind if we will.J. R. D.
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