Editorial August 27, 1910 Issue

THE REFLECTION OF JOY

John B. Willis

How pleasant, in one's rambles, to come upon the little wild flowers, here and there, and receive their chaste and gentle greeting. Their gifts are not great, but we bless the kindly blossoms even as we twice bless those who bring us an equally cheery human face and word.

The heart of humanity has such frequent cause for heaviness that even the silly are often thanked for the sunniness that brings a moment's escape from suffering. Nevertheless we all know full well that "the world's great need" is not supplied by levity. It is the smile, the handclasp that speaks for gladness within; it is the spirit of the truly thankful man, of him who has come to know something of heaven,—it is this and this alone that can comfort and strengthen the fainting heart, and happily, this healing ministry pertains even to the least, in the kingdom of good on earth. If one's own thought is a wellspring whose waters find their way from the unfailing infinite, then his joy-bringing is made sure. However simple the air he sings, the weary-hearted will hungrily wait to hear him through. This was the secret of the Hebrew bards whose songs have been the joy of the whole earth; their gladness was drawn from the fountain of living water, and it is commended by St. Paul when he says, "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice."

Such a Christianly rejoicing is awakened and nourished not only by the realization that our God is just and good, by our remembrance of His mercies, but by the realization that He is also joyous, and hence that His true reflection expresses gladness and beauty. He who sang, "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," must have understood this. He saw that the light of Truth makes glad, that the blitheness of the birds, the fragrance of the flowers, gives sure hint of the nearness of an ever rejoicing God. Says the poet,—

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