Who is anxious for a beloved one's eternal welfare?
We interest ourselves for their success, their prosperity; we ask GOD to
keep them from harm and misfortune; we try to start them well in the
world, to make them of reputation, to procure them pleasure.
To spare them trouble, we sacrifice our own ease and enjoyment....
Oh, that is all very beautiful, very right; but what should we do for the
soul?
Do we pray to GOD that this soul may become humble, pure, devoted?
Do we take as much pains to procure him the little devotional book that
will really help him, as we should to obtain a transient pleasure?
Do we help him, unseen, towards that act of charity, humiliation, or
self-renunciation? Have we courage not to spare the soul the trial that we
know will purify?
Does it seem too hard for you?
Ah! then you do not know what real love is. Does not GOD love us? Yet GOD
lets us suffer; even sends the suffering.
Love is given us to help us onwards, nearer to GOD. The most blessed is
that which draws us nearest to Him; and in proportion as it leads to GOD
we realize its blessedness.
The essence of true love is not its _tenderness_, but its strength, power
of endurance, its purity, its self-renunciation.
The mistake we make is when we seek to be beloved, instead of loving. What
makes us cowardly is the fear of losing that love.
Never forget this: A selfish heart desires love for itself; a Christian
heart delights to love--without return.