Alas, that one cannot live in moments of inspiration like these! As
life goes on, and as we begin perhaps to grow a little nearer to
God by faith, we are confronted in our own lives, or in the life of
one very near us, by some intolerable and shameful catastrophe. A
careless sin makes havoc of a life, and shadows a home with shame;
or some generous or unselfish nature, useful, beneficent, urgently
needed, is struck down with a painful and hopeless malady. This
too, we say to ourselves, must come from God; He might have
prevented it if He had so willed. What are we to make of it? How
are we to translate into terms of love what seems like an act of
tyrannous indifference, or deliberate cruelty? Then, I think, it is
well to remind ourselves that we can never know exactly the
conditions of any other human soul. How little we know of our own!
How little we could explain our case to another, even if we were
utterly sincere! The weaknesses of our nature are often, very
tenderly I would believe, hidden from us; we think ourselves
sensitive and weak, when in reality we are armed with a stubborn
breastplate of complacency and pride; or we think ourselves strong,
only because the blows of circumstance have been spared us.
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