A Recipe for Happiness

by Dr. Frank Crane

     It is worth while to try any recipe for happiness.

    Here is one that at least is to be commended for its simplicity and for the fact that it is within the reach of all.

     It is to rid yourself of your notion of your Rights. 

     Think a bit, and you will see that the greater part of all the indignities, chagrins, and humiliations you have had to endure arise from certain ideas you entertain about what is Due you.

If you can knead your mind about until you come to the conclusion that Nothing At All is due you, happiness is pretty sure to come in and take permanent lodgings in your heart.

    Most of us have a contempt for manipulating our minds to suit the inevitable, and an admiration for those of us who can coerce events to suit their desires.

    But, for instance, suppose, when you awake in the morning, before you get out of bed to do your gymnastics, you do a little mental exercise. Ask yourself: "Why should any one love me? Why should I be sought, admired, or praised? What right have I to health or wealth? Others suffer, why should I be happy? I have no claims on the universe, so if anything good comes my way today I shall consider myself in luck."

     Before you get up clean out of your mind every feeling of your Rights, and see what kind of a day you will have.Don't try for more than one day, at first, for it will tax your forces.Old habits of thought will bring constant suggestions, that you are being abused, imposed upon, oppressed and devoured. Be patient. Put these ideas away. Try, just one day, to act on the theory that you have no rights at all.Expect no gratitude when you help the poor. Look for no recognition when you accommodate a friend. Give up your seat in the crowded car. Step back and wait for others at the theatre box office. Require no attention from your servants, your children, or your wife. Be a door-mat-it's only for one day.By night you may be disgusted with the experiment.

     And yet, reflect! Have not all the best things in life come to you over your shoulder, and have not the great miseries of your life been due to not getting things you thought you ought to have, things you strived for?

     Remember the simple and lively emotions caused by the unexpected stroke of luck, by the favor of some one from whom you did not look for it, by the love shown you that you did not dream of, by beautiful sights, pleasant odors, delightful foods, as well as other surprises of sympathy, regard, and appreciation that fell to you as bolts from a clear sky.

     The best of our treasures came to us undeserved.The joys that know no yesterdays are all surplus. We never earned them.Health is nature's largess.True love is the Gift of an overbrimming heart. The man who thinks he Deserves the love of a good woman, and the worship of little children, ought to be kicked.In its higher plane, life is not commercial; it is not buying for a price; it is not a realm of law, except the mystic law of love. Thank God! we do Not get our just deserts.To get the taste of life we must approach it as a beggar at the king's court. If we are despised, what more natural? If we are feasted, what a marvel?Rather, let us say that none of us can get the rich, sweet flavor of life unless he has the spirit in him of a little child.Verily, verily, he that cannot be changed and become as a little child shall never know at all how good a thing it is to live .

Excerpt from Adventures in Common Sense, originally published in 1920

Ribband of Blue

By J. HUDSON TAYLOR

GOD would have all His people wear a badge. Throughout their generations they were to make them fringes in the borders of their garments, and to put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue, that they might look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them, and might be a holy people, holy unto their GOD, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, to be their GOD.

Blue is the colour of heaven. The beautiful waters of the sea reflect it, and are as blue as the cloudless sky. When the clouds come between, then, and then only, is the deep blue lost. But it is the will of GOD that there should never be a cloud between His people and Himself; and that, as the Israelite of old, wherever he went, carried the ribband of blue, so His people to-day should manifest a heavenly spirit and temper wherever they go; and should, like Moses, in their very countenances bear witness to the glory and beauty of the GOD whom they love and serve.

How interesting it must have been to see that ribband of blue carried by the farmer into the field, by the merchant to his place of business, by the maid-servant into the innermost parts of the dwelling, when performing her daily duties. Is it less important that the Christian of today, called to be a witness for CHRIST, should be manifestly characterised by His spirit? Should we not all be "imitators of GOD, as dear children," and "walk in love as CHRIST also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us"? And should not this Spirit of GOD-likeness be carried into the smallest details of life, and not be merely reserved for special occasions? If we understand aright the meaning of our SAVIOUR'S direction "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your FATHER which is in heaven is perfect," it teaches this great truth.

We are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, not to break one of the least of the commandments, not to give way to anger, not to tolerate the thought of impurity, to give no rash promises, or in conversation to say more than yea or nay. The spirit of retaliation is not to be indulged in; a yieldingness of spirit is to characterise the child of the kingdom; those who hate and despitefully use us are to be pitied, and loved, and prayed for. Then comes the direction, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your FATHER which is in heaven is perfect." In the little frictions of daily life, as well as in the more serious trials and persecutions to which the Christian is exposed, he is to be manifestly an imitator of his heavenly FATHER.
Now, GOD'S perfection is an absolute perfection; while ours, at best, is only relative. A needle may be a perfect needle, in every respect adapted for the work for which it was made. It is not, however, a microscopic object; under magnifying power it becomes a rough, honeycombed poker, with a ragged hole in the place of the eye. But it was not made to be a microscopic object; and, being adapted to the purpose for which it was made, it may properly be considered a perfect needle. So we are not called to be perfect angels, or in any respect Divine, but we are called to be perfect Christians, performing the privileged duties that as such devolve upon us.
Our FATHER makes according to His perfection the least little thing that He makes. The tiniest fly, the smallest animalcule, the dust of a butterfly's wing, however highly you may magnify them, are seen to be absolutely perfect. Should not the little things of our daily life be as relatively perfect in the case of each Christian as the lesser creations of GOD are absolutely perfect? Ought we not to glorify GOD in the formation of each letter that we write, and as Christians to write a more legible hand than unconverted people can be expected to do? Ought we not to be more thorough in our service, not simply doing well that which will be seen and noticed, but as our FATHER makes many a flower to bloom unseen in the lonely desert, so to do all that we can do, as under His eye, though no other eye ever take note of it?
It is our privilege to take our rest and recreation for the purpose of pleasing Him; to lay aside our garments at night neatly (for He is in the room, and watches over us while we sleep), to wash, to dress, to smooth the hair, with His eye in view; and, in short, in all that we are and in all that we do to use the full measure of ability which GOD has given us to the glory of His holy Name? Were we always so to live, how beautiful Christian life would become! how much more worthy a witness we should bear to the world of Him whose witnesses we are! May the life we are living be characterised by the growth in grace which will glorify GOD; and may tell-tale faces, and glad hearts, and loving service be to each one of us as "a ribband of blue," reflecting the very hue of heaven, and reminding ourselves and one another of our privileges to "remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them."

excerpt from A Ribband of Blue AND OTHER BIBLE STUDIES By J. HUDSON TAYLOR

Lord, Teach us to Pray

By Rev. Andrew Murray


The disciples had been with Christ, and seen Him pray. They had learnt to understand something of the connection between His wondrous life in public, and His secret life of prayer. They had learnt to believe in Him as a Master in the art of prayer—none could pray like Him. And so they came to Him with the request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' And in after years they would have told us that there were few things more wonderful or blessed that He taught them than His lessons on prayer.

And now still it comes to pass, as He is praying in a certain place, that disciples who see Him thus engaged feel the need of repeating the same request, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we grow in the Christian life, the thought and the faith of the Beloved Master in His never-failing intercession becomes evermore precious, and the hope of being Like Christ in His intercession gains an attractiveness before unknown. And as we see Him pray, and remember that there is none who can pray like Him, and none who can teach like Him, we feel the petition of the disciples, 'Lord, teach us to pray,' is just what we need. And as we think how all He is and has, how He Himself is our very own, how He is Himself our life, we feel assured that we have but to ask, and He will be delighted to take us up into closer fellowship with Himself, and teach us to pray even as He prays.
Come, my brothers! Shall we not go to the Blessed Master and ask Him to enrol our names too anew in that school which He always keeps open for those who long to continue their studies in the Divine art of prayer and intercession? Yes, let us this very day say to the Master, as they did of old, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' As we meditate we shall find each word of the petition we bring to be full of meaning.
'Lord, teach us to pray.' Yes, to pray. This is what we need to be taught. Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeble child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at its disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings, the secret of power and life. Not only for ourselves, but for others, for the Church, for the world, it is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfilment, the kingdom for its coming, the glory of God for its full revelation. And for this blessed work, how slothful and unfit we are. It is only the Spirit of God can enable us to do it aright. How speedily we are deceived into a resting in the form, while the power is wanting. Our early training, the teaching of the Church, the influence of habit, the stirring of the emotions—how easily these lead to prayer which has no spiritual power, and avails but little. True prayer, that takes hold of God's strength, that availeth much, to which the gates of heaven are really opened wide—who would not cry, Oh for some one to teach me thus to pray?
Jesus has opened a school, in which He trains His redeemed ones, who specially desire it, to have power in prayer. Shall we not enter it with the petition, Lord! it is just this we need to be taught! O teach us to pray.

Note: This excerpt from "Lord, Teach Us to Pray" is in the public domain.