The Test of Value

We look at treasures whose making and keeping have cost the very heart-blood of noble men and women, and marvel at naught save their loveliness. We are too human to look beneath the surface, and realize the grandeur of the effort that resulted in these productions.

Pieces of workmanship that have cost time and energy beyond our understanding, pictures that are the result of a lifetime of imagination and coloring, gems that sparkle because of days of patient cutting by skilled workmen- these are the prizes that charm our human vision.

Yes, looking at the beautiful we rarely count the cost.

When we are told that the beautiful pearl was produced at the cost of great pain to some little creature, the words fall on dull ears. We are enraptured by the beauty of the gem, and have unconsciously trained ourselves not to read the unwritten story there.

And in all the world, there seems nothing more beautiful than the character of a man or woman who somehow has taken life's experiences and turned them into attractiveness of face, manner, and spirit- character that shows itself in calmness of soul under pressure of circumstances- a steady, earnest manner of living that is the envy of all beholders.

We know there have been storms in that life. Only so could that peace have been gained.

The chisel has been cutting deep as the years rolled on; but we forget the storms, and the hurts of the chisel passes for naught. We marvel only at the perfect man.

When we think of one who has given his very life to the furtherance of some great and good undertaking, and then been called upon to lay aside what seemed his unfinished work, just as he could look thru the shadows to the bright dawn of completion it seems a bit hard that such things must be; but are WE capable of deciding as to how much was really accomplished?

Every tree that towers skyward can boast of a growth beneath the soil too, and this, no man can measure with his eye, yet both the visible and the invisible are needed, and form a part of the completed work of God. The life that seemed to our dimmed earthly vision incomplete, had undoubtedly accomplished its purpose, tho none but God could tell the finished story. The jewel had been completely carved; the chisel had perfected the loveliness of the statue; and thru all time, what this man said and did will be told to make other lives better and nobler.

But lack of time or an early call to reward is not the sole cause for man's failure to accomplish that to which he aspires. Fear of probable dangers or difficulties in the way causes timid ones to turn back, and so give up a cherished plan that might have ended in glad fruition; and for such ones we should have thoughts and words of pity rather than blame for they miss life's crowning joy. To be sure, others suffer because of their lack of perseverance, but their own is the greater punishment.

The mighty Alexander was said to have had in his army a cowardly captain who hid himself on the eve of a great battle. After the battle had been bravely fought, and a glorious victory won, the culprit came from his place of hiding, expecting to be well reprimanded for his disgraceful conduct; but imagine his chagrin when the mighty leader simply gazed at him pityingly and said, "My young man, we fought a great battle today, and won a glorious victory; but you may not rejoice with us, for you were not with us in the strife."

Yes, your completed character will be a statue of your own carving. Storms, failures, hard-experiences may form a part of your lot, for life often means strife, but these unpleasantnesses may, if you will, prove but chisels, without the wise use of which great beauty could not be wrought.

We laugh and we cry, we wonder and we doubt, we reach up through the darkness and cry for help when days go wrong, yet all these seeming little things are undoubtedly a part of the divine plan for shaping our lives according to His will.

The wisest way is to plan as seems to us right and best, and then persevere in spite of difficulties. Press on to full achievement or fall battle-scarred, but brave in the effort. A modern writer, at the beauty of whose life-work we marvel, said near the close of her career, "I have found life a warfare, but have ever found the weapons provided sufficient for a victory." Truly, not all that strive may win, but rest assured that "not failure, but low aim is crime."

And it oft happens that in the midst of greatest anxiety, no ray of hope or encouragement breaks across our pathway. There seems nothing to give us cheer or increase our strength; but later we look back and see that this, and other times of its kind were followed by periods of unusual happiness.

There never was a night so dark as to hinder the following of the day, nor a storm so furious as to prevent the return of a cloudless sky.

So, when everything seems at its worst, look in the near future for something better. When the dark hours of night throw their shadows about you, watch soon for the rosy light of day in the east.

Think not because your way is sometimes rough that all is wrong, and that your plan for living is but a series of mistakes.

In every vocation those designed to do the finest work must receive the most tedious training, but the greatness and grandness of their accomplishments later will prove sufficient recompense for all their hours of toil and pain.

Every cut of the chisel helps to make the gem more truly beautiful, and our helping others upward toward that which is brighter and better, even though our own lives be laid on the altar of sacrifice in the undertaking is what will give to our completed statue of character, its greatest glory.

In Westminster Abbey stand the statues of England's great men. Some of those faces reveal dauntless courage; some power of thought; some noble ambitions; others wonderful imaginations, each portraying the peculiar characteristics of the person which it represents.

And as we, one by one, lay down our chisels, we must leave in the corridors of time our statues, whether beautiful or ugly, uplifting or degrading, there to remain unchanged throughout eternity; and when all shall have completed their statues, the master sculptor will test the workmanship and render unto every man according to his work, whether it be good or evil.