MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR LIVES.
The great Humboldt once said, "The aim of every man should be to secure
the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete
and consistent whole." Another thoughtful man, Sir John Lubbock, also
said, "Our first object should be to make the most and best of
ourselves."
Prominent among the historic personages who have made the best use of
their lives is Joseph. Touch his career at any point that is open to
investigation, and always Joseph will be found doing the very best that
under the circumstances can be done. When his father tells him to carry
food to his envious brothers, he obediently faces the danger of their
hatred and goes. When he is a slave in Potiphar's house he discharges
all his duties so discreetly that the prison-keeper trusts him
implicitly. When his fellow-prisoners have heavy hearts, he feels their
sorrows and tries to give them relief. When Pharaoh commits the ordering
of a kingdom to his keeping, he governs the nation ably. When foresight
has placed abundant food in his control, he feeds the famishing nations
so that all are preserved. When his father and his brethren are in need,
he graciously supplies their wants. When that father is dying, the son
is as tender with him as a mother with her child. And when that father
has died, the son reverences his father's last request and carries
Jacob's body far up into the old home country at Machpelah for burial.
There were many occasions in Joseph's life in which he might have
failed. At least, in any one of them he might have come short of the
best. Seneca used to say of himself, "All I require of myself is, not to
be equal to the best, but only to be better than the bad." But Joseph
aimed in every individual experience to be equal to the best. In that
aim he succeeded wondrously. Going out, as a young boy, from the simple
home of a shepherd, becoming a captive in a strange land, subjected to
great temptations in a luxurious civilization, tested with a great
variety of important duties, exposed to the peril of pride and
self-sufficiency, given opportunity for revenge upon those who had
injured him, he always, without exception, carried himself well, doing
his part bravely, earnestly, and wisely, and making of his life, in each
opportunity, the best.
It is not every one that is called to such a vast range of experience as
was Joseph. Even Christ never traveled out of His own little environment
of Judea, that was a few miles north and south, and still fewer miles
east and west. The great majority of lives never come into public
prominence. They have no part in administering the affairs of a kingdom
or in managing large mercantile transactions. Even among the apostles
there were some whose history is almost lost in obscurity. We scarce
know anything of what Bartholomew said or Lebbeus did. It is not a
question whether we can make a great name for ourselves. That may be
absolutely impossible. Many a beautiful flower is so placed in some
extensive field that human eyes never see it and human lips consequently
never praise it. But the question is, whether we are doing the best that
can be done with our lives such as they are.
Every human life is like the life of some tree. Each tree is at its
best when it well fulfils the purpose for which it was made. There are
trees which must stand as towering as the date-palm if they answer their
end, and there are other trees which can never expect to be towering,
for they were made, like the box, to keep near the ground. Some trees
are for outward fruit, as the apple, and some for inward fruit, as the
ash. Fruit is "correspondence in development with the purpose for which
the tree exists," is "production in the line of the nature of the tree."
When, then, the orange tree produces sound, sweet oranges that refresh
the dry lips of an invalid or ornament the table of a prince, the orange
tree does well; and if it produces such fruit to as large a degree as
possible, and for as long a time as possible, it has done its best. So,
too, does the pine do well when it produces wood wherewith a good house
for family joy may be built, and the spruce does well when it brings
forth a fiber that may be fashioned into paper on which words of truth
can be printed, and the oak does well when it develops a grain suitable
for the construction of a vessel that plowing the waves shall carry
cargoes of merchandise. If the pine, the spruce, the oak, grow to the
extent of their opportunity, and become all that they can become in the
line of their own possibility, each and all have made the best use of
their lives.
But how varied are the opportunities as well as the missions of trees,
of the garden cherry and the forest poplar, of the swamp tamarack and
the plantation catalpa! Trees of the same genus may be so differently
placed that one can attain an abundant growth while another must strive
hard simply to exist. An elm along a river bottom, fed by constant
moisture, lifts wide arms to the sunlight, while an elm on a rocky hill,
scarce finding crevices for its roots, necessarily is small and stunted.
And still that stunted elm may, in its place, make or not make the best
use of its life.
Human lives are as diversified in their natures as the growths of the
field and forest. Our tastes, our aptitudes, our memories, our
imaginations, widely vary. The world is made up of thousands upon
thousands of different needs, that must be met if mankind is to prosper.
Every function necessary for the world's welfare is an honorable
function and becomes, when attempted by a consecrated heart, a sacred
function. The world cannot live without cooking, nor can it live without
building, nor without bartering, nor without teaching. How to make the
best of the function or functions that are his, is the question every
human being should ponder.
A man may make a _bad_ use of his life. He may throw away his
opportunities, he may wreck his powers of mind and body, he may tear
down that good in the world which he was put here to build up. This _is_
a possibility! Every life should understand that it is a possibility.
John Newton held in his hand a ring. As he was leaning over the rail of
an ocean vessel he had no thought that perhaps through careless handling
he might drop that ring and lose it forever. His mind was entirely on
the ring, not on the danger of losing the ring. Suddenly the ring
slipped through his fingers, and before he could get hold of it again,
it was in the depths of the sea. It is for this reason that the book of
Proverbs is constantly calling to men to see that the priceless jewels
of opportunity are "retained," and that Christ's word, "not to let our
light become darkness," has so much significance. Men often squander
fortunes. They also squander virtues and reputation and aptitudes and
opportunities. Jails, reformatories, houses of detention, drunkards'
graves, the gathering places of tramps, all tell us that people can make
a miserable use of life. So does many a beautiful banquet-hall, many a
luxurious home, many a speculator's resort, many a student's room, tell
us that those we see there have had powers of mind and body and
opportunities of social position and of wealth which they have thrown
away. They have wasted their good as truly as a prodigal who has spent
his all in riotous living. They are Jeroboams; dowered with gifts that
might have been used for their own development and the welfare of others
they have let mean and low and unworthy attractions secure their gifts,
thus spoiling their own characters and causing Israel to sin. Every
blessing that a man has may become his curse, and drag him down and drag
others down with him.
This truth is well known. The other truth is not so well known, that a
man may make an _inferior_ use of his life. This is exactly what that
Seneca did who declared that his ambition was, "not to be equal to the
best, but only to be better than the bad." He gained large knowledge, he
wrote and spoke much that was philosophical and moral, he pointed out
many of the perils of a misuse of wealth, he was better than the bad,
better than the Nero who would kick his mother, kill his wife, make
merry over his own indecencies, and gloat in the crucifixion of martyrs.
Seneca was better than the man who never made effort to cultivate his
mind, was better than the man who spent his days in orgies, yes, was far
better than the man who was blind to the beauty of gems, of poetry, and
of architecture. But all the same he made an inferior use of his life.
His library, his furniture, his precious stones, his worldly wisdom,
were very great. Let him be tutor even to an emperor, an emperor that
was a "Caesar"! And still, better than the bad, he made a lamentable
misuse of life when he let luxury enervate his righteous principles, let
the pleasures of the table rob him of his integrity, and let his own
hand, in an hour of humiliation, end the life which was not his to end.
Seneca was the man who let an inferior standard decide his purposes, and
thus vitiated his powers. Any standard lower than the highest produces
poor material. Second-rate standards make second-rate goods and
second-rate men. Second-rate men are brought to hours of emergency
calling for first-rate principles. In such hours second-rate men go
down. A man satisfied to live for anything less than the best of which
he is capable may stand well for a considerable time, but before his
days are over he will be found to be an unsuccessful workman, a
disappointing teacher, a weak financier, an inaccurate student, an
untrustworthy friend.
But while we may make a bad or inferior use of life, we also may make
the _best_ use of it. To do this should be our ambition. It should be
the underlying, all-pervading purpose that quietly but regnantly
dominates our being. The best use of our life will never be secured
apart from such ambition. It will not come of itself. We do not drift
into a best use. The best use is a matter of toil and perseverance, of
thoughtfulness and devotion. It cost Joseph hours of consideration, days
of application, and years of adaptation to make the best use of his
life. He found himself in new positions constantly. The boy naturally
had looked forward to being a shepherd. To that end he studied the lie
of pasturage lands. When his father sent him to his brethren he knew the
way to Shechem and Dothan, and he found his brethren.
But with his forced departure into Egypt, probably into the city of
Memphis, all his surroundings are new and untried. The shepherd boy is
given the duties of a household servant, exchanging the freedom of the
field for the confinement of the palace. But he takes up his new duties,
magnifying them as an opportunity of development, and he makes the best
use of them. Later, he who has known only a tent and a palace is in a
prison, and is charged with the work of a prison guard. Right well he
does that work, studying it, giving himself to it, and making a success
of it by his heartiness and fidelity. Later still, he who has only
tended sheep and ordered a household and enforced discipline is called
to be a comforter to souls. He summons his sympathy, he persuasively
approaches those whose hearts are sore, he obtains their confidence, and
relieves their anxiety. Still again, this prisoner, this shepherd boy,
this household servant, this man with pity in his eyes, is called to a
new adaptation. He must appear before a Pharaoh and as a courtier have
interview with him! That underlying purpose of his heart, always to make
the best of the hour and place, stands him in good stead, and the
courtier conducts himself so wisely that he is advanced to be an
Egyptian viceroy. Later still this viceroy must become a minister of
agriculture and charge a nation when and how to sow the fields. Still
later he must become a secretary of the treasury, purchasing grain and
building store-houses. Still later he must be a great premier, both
providing for present need and making arrangements for future taxation.
Later he must be a brother with a true brother's heart and a son with a
son's gentleness toward an aged and perhaps imperious parent. Later he
must be a mourner, then a traveler, and then as an orphan son he must
assume again the heavy burdens of statesmanship.
What strange varieties of experience Joseph thus met! How those
experiences kept changing every little while! Why did he succeed so well
in them? Because in every one of them he made the best use of himself
that the occasion allowed. He magnified the opportunity he had. The
thing that was at hand to do he did with absolute fidelity.
We do not forget and we must not forget that at the very bottom of his
life was a _belief in God_ and an intention to do what God sanctioned
and only what God sanctioned. He would not disobey what he believed to
be a wish of God! Somehow, in that far-away country, surrounded by
temples and idols, meeting the thousands of priests of Isis, hearing the
daily services of heathenism, and seeing the unceasing vices of the
land, he kept God and God's principles in his soul. Those principles in
general taught him purity and honesty; in particular they taught him
_fidelity_ in the service of others and _desire to benefit_ his
fellow-men. Such fidelity and helpfulness--united with dependence on the
aid of God--enabled him always and everywhere to make the best use of
his life. He trusted God when doors were shut as well as when they were
open. Privation as truly as prosperity was to him an opportunity.
Accordingly, _heartiness_ went into his opportunities. The spirit of
grumbling never appeared in his career. No hour came too suddenly for
him, no task was too small nor too great, no occasion too low nor too
high, no association too mean nor too noble. As a household servant he
did his work as under God and for God, and as a ruler of a nation he did
it as under God and for God, and as an obedient son he did it as under
God and for God.
A physician whose life has been beautiful in good deeds and in a high
faith once said, "My happiness and usefulness in the world are due to a
chance question from a stranger. I was a poor boy and a cripple. One
day, standing on a ball-field and watching other boys who were strong,
well clothed, and healthy, I felt bitter and envious. The friends of the
players were waiting to applaud them. I never could play nor have
applause! I was sick at heart.
"A young man beside me must have seen the discontent on my face. He
touched my arm, and said, 'You wish you were one of those boys, do you?'
'Yes, I do,' I answered quickly. 'They have everything and I have
nothing.'
"Quietly he said, 'God has given them money, education, and health that
they may be of some account in the world. Did it never strike you that
he gave you your lameness for the same reason, to make a splendid man of
you?'
"I did not answer, but I never forgot the words. 'My lameness given me
by God to teach me patience and strength!'
"At first I did not believe the words, but I was a thoughtful boy,
taught to reverence God, and the more I considered the words, the
clearer I saw their truth. I decided to accept the words. I let them
work upon my temper, my purposes, my actions. I now looked on every
difficulty as an opportunity for struggle, every situation of my life as
an occasion for good. If a helpless invalid was cast on me for support,
or whatever the burden that came to me, I resolved to do my best. Since
then life has been sweetened and growth into peace and usefulness has
come."
Soon after the death of Carlyle two friends met: "And so Carlyle is
dead," said one. "Yes," said the other, "he is gone; but he did me a
very good turn once." "How was that," asked the first speaker, "did you
ever see him or hear him?" "No," came the answer, "I never saw him nor
heard him. But when I was beginning life, almost through my
apprenticeship, I lost all interest in everything and every one. I felt
as if I had no duty of importance to discharge; that it did not matter
whether I lived or not; that the world would do as well without me as
with me. This condition continued more than a year. I should have been
glad to die. One gloomy night, feeling that I could stand my darkness no
longer, I went into a library, and lifting a book I found lying upon a
table, I opened it. It was Sartor Resartus, by Thomas Carlyle. My eye
fell upon one sentence, marked in italics, 'Do the duty which _lies
nearest to thee_, which thou knowest to be a duty! The second duty will
already have become clearer.' That sentence," continued the speaker,
"was a flash of lightning striking into my dark soul. It gave me a new
glimpse of human existence. It made a changed man of me. Carlyle, under
God, saved me. He put content and purpose and power into my life."
"The duty lying nearest" was the duty Joseph magnified. He accepted
that duty as divine, and he performed it under God faithfully,
serviceably, and cheerily. Any and every life that meets duty as Joseph
did, will make the best of its life. We may be placed in low position or
in high position; we may have menial or kingly responsibilities; we may
have temptations of all possible kinds about us; but if we look to God
for guidance, and carry faithfulness, serviceableness, and cheer into
each and every duty, we shall have made of life the best.
PUTTING THE BEST INTO OTHERS.