"
And this is, after all, the way in which God deals with us. He
gives us our portion to spend as we choose; He holds nothing back;
and when we have wasted it and brought misery upon ourselves, and
return to Him, even for the worst of reasons, He has not a word of
rebuke or caution; He is simply and utterly filled with joy and
love. There are a thousand texts that would discourage us, would
bid us believe that God deals hardly with us, but it is men that
deal hardly with us, it is we that deal hardly with ourselves. This
story, which is surely the most beautiful story in the world, gives
us the deliberate thought of the Saviour, the essence of His
teaching; and we may fling aside the bitter warnings of jealous
minds, and cast ourselves upon the supreme hope that, if only we
will return, we are dealt with even more joyfully than if we had
never wandered at all.
And then perhaps at last, when we have peeped again and again,
through loss and suffering, at the dark background of life; when we
have seen the dreariest corner of the lonely road, where the path
grows steep and miry, and the light is veiled by scudding cloud and
dripping rain, there begins to dawn upon us the sense of a
beautiful and holy patience, the thought that these grey ashes of
life, in which the glowing cinders sink, which once were bright
with leaping flame, are not the end--that the flame and glow are
there, although momently dispersed.
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