In the first place, expect them. Make them the subject of our morning
prayers, and say to ourselves, Here is my daily cross, do I accept
willingly? Surely! for it is GOD Who sends it. After all ... these little
troubles, looked at calmly, what are they? Ah, if there were never any
worse!
Secondly, we must be prepared for them. You know, if you wish to break the
force of a blow falling on you, you naturally bend the body; so let us act
with regard to our souls.
Accustom yourself, wrote a pious author, to stoop with sweet
condescension, not only to exigencies (that is your duty), but to the
simple wishes of those who surround you--the accidents which may intervene;
you will find yourself seldom, if ever, crushed.
To _bend_ is better than to _bear_; to bear is often a little hard; to
bend implies a certain external sweetness that yields all constraint,
sacrificing the wishes, even in holy things, when they tend to cause
disagreements in the family circle.
Submission often implies an entire resignation to all that GOD permits.
The soul that endures feels the weight of its trouble. The soul that
yields scarcely perceives it.
Blessed are those docile ones; they are those whom GOD selects to work for
Him.