Nature is always busy weaving sunbeams, and not one of them, like a
knotted thread, is cast from her loom. The waves cast their crystal
spray upon the sands to waste away, but not so with the sun as he
lavishly casts his beams broadcast o’er the earth. Not one of them
goes upon a fruitless errand, and not one of them fails to reach its
intended goal. It is not that the sun is wise in directing its energy,
but because the earth is ready to utilize, with untiring fidelity, the
gift of sunlight.
How abundantly the sunbeams come! The arched sky is an upturned basket,
out of which God is pouring his wealth of sunlight upon a thirsty,
needy planet. These rays of light fall everywhere, because they are
needed everywhere. Upon arctic snow and desert sand and undiscovered
ocean waves they fall as readily as upon the forests of Brittany or
the vineyards of France. They place their gleaming coronets upon the
crystal brows of the Alps. They dance and flash their jewels, as they
hold carnival in the Northern Lights. Even after the sun is set they
peer at us through the parted clouds and leap at us from their hiding
places in the moon. They fall in the most inaccessible places, yet
none of them are ever wasted. As the parched earth drinks raindrops,
so the old world absorbs sunbeams. Swifter and more powerful than
the leaping waters of a cataract are they poured upon the earth--a
Niagara, world-wide and sun-high, with never-ceasing floods of light
that bathe each portion of the globe. They are not piled in heaps; they
do not swish and whirl, cutting a gorge through solid rock, or form a
whirlpool to menace humanity, but the earth absorbs them all, however
rapidly they come, and places them in her mysterious loom. Here, in
the depths, beyond our sight, the sunbeams are woven into invisible
cords that hold the needles of all the compasses to the north that
no traveler need be lost in the forest, and no ship perish in the
sea. Here, in the depths, the sunbeams are woven into mighty cables
of electric power that man picks up with the fingers of the dynamo
and compels to lift his burdens, pull his trains, propel his ships,
and serve him in a thousand ways. Here, in the depths, is woven that
mysterious power that carries the wireless message through the rocks of
the mountains and the channels of the sea, and wraps the earth in a
diaphanous garb that makes the wireless telephone a possibility.
The world we see is but woven sunbeams. The forests of oak are the
sunbeams of yesterday, wrought into gnarled and knotted fingers to
grasp the sunbeams of to-day and wind them on a myriad unseen shuttles.
Soon they shall appear woven in the texture of notched leaf and carved
chalice of the acorn’s cup. The sunbeams falling upon the tangled
branches of the hillside vineyard, are woven into buds, and leaves,
and clinging tendrils, and afterward into the rich cluster of luscious
grapes. The sunbeams fall upon the buried seed and are woven into an
emerald lever with which the clod is lifted, into sturdy leaves that
are chemical laboratories where crude sap is changed into milk, into
heads of golden wheat with which to feed a thoughtless, hungry world.
Sunbeams are woven into corn and oats, into apples and peaches, into
nuts and berries. Falling along the railroad grade, they are woven into
violets; falling in the swamps, they are woven into buttercups; falling
in the thicket, they are woven into the silken folds of the wild-rose
petal.
As nature weaves the sunbeam and not the shadow so man ought to develop
his power of utilizing happiness and joy. The sunshine of life ought
not to be thrown away like confetti and ribbon papers on a gala day.
Thoughtlessly our youths and maidens dance and sing in giddy, senseless
manner, throwing away sunbeams as though their lives were only bits of
colored glass through which the light of joy and happiness should pass.
Having no looms with which to weave their sunbeams into that which
would adorn their souls with garments of ever-growing life, they soon
become old and haggard, lifeless and dead, a burned-out planet like
the moon, unable to appreciate the sunlight that never fails to fall.
Much of the difference between men is due to the ability of one and
the inability of the other to make the passing joys of life become a
permanent, abiding element of his life.
There is no life without sufficient sunlight to weave a gracious
personality. Wholesomeness of character is not the result of partiality
on God’s part, neither is hideous irritability of disposition
occasioned by God’s neglect of one of his children. The difference
between wholesomeness and unwholesomeness of character is that of the
right and wrong use of the blessings which God bestows upon all alike.
He who casts his sunbeams away will find old age desert and lifeless,
while he who weaves them all into a pleasing personality, will always
experience the joy of a more abundant life. A smile is softer than a
silken fiber and wears far longer. Its colors never fade, nor pass out
of style. Woven into a robe of genuine cheerfulness the soul possesses
rich adornment. These are the individuals whom children love, men seek
to honor, and all the world respects. A king’s robe is commonplace
compared with the attractive vesture of a healthy, cheerful disposition
which anyone may weave out of sunbeams, with which God crowds even the
most secluded, humble lives.
This occupation is also the secret of sound and vigorous influence.
All men possess the power of influence, but even when one has the best
intentions he may wield a harmful, baleful influence because of an
irritable and complaining disposition. A petulant temper and irascible
disposition are the thunder that curds much of the milk of human
kindness, and an application of alum will not tend to sweeten the curd.
With a sharp tongue one may be driven to hard labor, but the wounds
he carries in his heart will prevent him from performing a perfect
task. Scolding and fault-finding have driven multitudes into iniquity.
It is difficult to drive bees, but one can lure them any distance
with a field of blooming clover. By forgetting to weave sunbeams into
wholesome character one not only loses the joy of being cheerful but
fails in one of the supreme objectives of life--that of wielding
intelligently a helpful, healthy, and enduring influence.
The secret of achievement may also be described as weaving sunbeams.
In a victorious life the blessings of God take permanent place in the
work of hand and brain. Such a life is a loom which receives only
that he may produce, the quality of the production depending upon
the care and patience with which he works, indifference producing
mediocrity, carefulness leading to perfection. What the world calls
genius is simply the mastery of the gracious art of weaving sunbeams
into polished sentences, enduring thoughts, embroidered tapestry,
living poem, inspiring painting, and graceful statue. The way out
of mediocrity is to weave one’s personal blessings into world-wide
benefits.
Here also is found the way to overcome life’s obstacles. A frown
never wins a battle. It was a singing army that crossed the sea and
helped win the World War. Amid the dangers, hardships, and privations
our soldiers gathered sunbeams, and with a cheerfulness never before
witnessed upon a field of battle did their full part. Trenches,
barbed-wire entanglement, and treacherous pitfall are nothing to one
who weaves his sunbeams into song. Thus all difficulties fade away and
vanish.
These statements are only another way of saying that one should weave
God into every fiber of life. The sun is always emblematic of the
Father, and he who weaves sunbeams will know and love God. This is no
idle saying, nor a bit of rhetoric, but a soul-saving truth. It is the
sun that banishes the shadows; it is God who enables us to overcome
our temptations, pain and sorrow. The more we utilize his revelations
the brighter the pathway, until at last we shall stand in his presence
and have no more need of the sun, for we have him. “They shall hunger
no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall
feed them, and shall lead them into living fountains of waters: and God
shall wipe all tears from their eyes.” Weaving sunbeams in a world of
shadows, we prepare ourselves for the unshadowed land where God is the
everlasting Light. There, without sin or suffering, we shall know God.