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Ringing
The Joy Bells
Each
of us has a large capacity for enjoyment. Some are
naturally more exuberant than others. Some are
light-hearted and cheerful. Others are sober and
thoughtful. Some are emotional. Some are unemotional. Some
are inclined to look on the bright side of things; others
upon the dark side. But each of us has within joy bells
which may be made to peal out the glad tidings of a joyful
heart.
Sometimes these joy bells ring spontaneously, but very
often if they ring we must ring them. We must do something
to cause them to ring. Every life may hear their happy
echoes, every life may be joyous. If our life does not
hold a considerable content of joy it is because we permit
it to become abnormal. We permit things to silence the joy
bells and we permit them to hang silent in the belfries of
our souls.
Like all our other capacities our capacity for joy and
gladness may be developed and increased. It is important
to have the will to be joyful. "I mean to be
happy" should be the motto of each of us. There need
be nothing selfish in such an attitude. It is perfectly
right and in complete harmony with God's will that we hold
such an attitude and that we use our best endeavors to
make it a reality in our lives.
The Christian religion is not a long-faced, gloomy thing.
It is the greatest source of true happiness. We should set
ourselves the task of developing our capacity to be happy.
We should not be like a woman who once lived neighbor to
my grandfather. She constantly wore a sunbonnet that
extended some inches before her face. Asked why she did it
she said she wore it lest she should see something to make
her laugh. A part of her idea of being a Christian was
refraining from laughter. Others, while not so extreme,
think it a mark of spirituality to be grave and dignified
and to shut out of life the things that would make it
bright, cheerful, and sappy.
Long ago I determined to be happy. I determined to be
happy no matter what happened and no matter what condition
I might be in nor what my circumstances might be. For
twenty-one years I have kept my bed a constant sufferer,
but I am happy. I am happy every day. I will not be any
other way. I have had my troubles, many of them. I shall
probably have more. I have learned that troubles do not
make unhappiness. It is only a wrong attitude toward
trouble that does 80. I hope the reader will pardon my
referring to my own experience, but I have passed through
so many things and so much suffering and trouble and yet
have learned to be happy in spite of it that I know others
can do the same if they will. Many a time I have had to
pull hard on the rope of the joy bells to get them to
ring. I have kept on pulling until they pealed out their
joyous tones. Dear reader, you can do the same no matter
what the situation or surroundings, if you will go about
it in the right way.
Many people have unfavorable tendencies. They seem
naturally disposed to be easily discouraged or gloomy,
looking on the dark side. They are timid, sensitive, or
unsociable. These unfavorable natural tendencies should
not be permitted to have sway in the life. We should set
ourselves resolutely to overcome such tendencies. If we
are inclined to become easily discouraged we should
cultivate hope. We should ask ourselves, "What would
be the hopeful attitude with regard to this?" Having
determined what it would be we should adopt it and hold it
no matter what the temptation is to do otherwise.
If we are inclined to be gloomy and to look on the dark
side of things let us compel ourselves to look on the
bright side. Perhaps we may feel there is no bright side,
but there is always a bright side to everything. If there
is no naturally bright side let us turn it up toward God
and let the sunshine of his love fall upon it. That will
brighten any circumstance. If we are inclined to be timid
let us compel ourselves to do the thing we ought to do or
want to do. Let us not surrender to our timidity. We can
break through it and overcome it and master it. If we give
way to it its hold upon us becomes firmer and firmer. If
we do what we desire to do in spite of it, it will cease
to hinder us.
If we are inclined to be unsociable we should compel
ourselves to act in a sociable way whether we feel like it
or not. We should practice being friendly toward others.
We should meet them half way or beyond. If we act this out
it will soon become natural to us and bring us much
satisfaction.
I have spoken of the rope of the joy bells. Most
bells do not ring of themselves. We must ring them. So we
must ring the joy bells. Sometimes our joy bells seem like
the old hell on a farm where I once was. It stood on a
tall pole. I wondered why it was not rung to call the
workers in from the field at noon. When I came to the
house I discovered there was no rope attached to the bell.
In some cases the joy bells are like a bell on another
farm where I lived. It did not hang in the proper position
because it was not properly balanced. So when the wind
would blow the bell would ring night or day. Many a time I
was awakened in the night by its ringing. Some joy bells
likewise ring only as chance occurrences. They ring only
under favorable conditions, as a result of favorable
circumstances. They are not controlled. We need to attach
a rope of faith to our joy bells and through the exercise
of this faith we can cause them to ring. We can have an
inner source of joy and peace that is not disturbed by the
storms of life, that does not depend upon circumstances,
but has its root and fountain deep in the heart. We can be
so hid away with Christ in God that the storms will pass
us by.
A number of years ago during the test of a submarine it
stayed submerged for many hours. When it had returned to
the harbor a man said to the commander, "Well, how
did the storm affect you last night?" The commander
looked at him in surprise and said, "Storm! We knew
nothing of any storm!" They had been down far enough
below the surface not to feel any effect of the storm. We
can sink down into God from life's storms so they need not
keep the joy bells of our soul from ringing. We can be
joyful even in the midst of trouble.
A friend once told me of his experience in an earthquake
in a certain city. He said when the buildings swayed and
trembled all the bells of the city began ringing. In
life's earthquakes we may so trust God that our joy bells
will ring.
God gives to us the gift of rejoicing. Jesus said he gave
us his peace, "That your joy may be full." Paul
rejoiced in the midst of his tribulations, "We are
exceeding joyful in all our tribulations." And he
exhorted the Thessalonians to "rejoice
evermore." If we cannot rejoice in the things of the
present, in the realization of our hopes, we can at least
rejoice in hope of better things to come. Rejoicing in
past victories and in past blessings will often bring joy
in spite of present trouble.
There may be periods in life that are dark. Failure may
cast its shadows upon us. Discouragements may press us. If
we look only at the present we shall have a hard time to
make the joy bells ring. At such times we should look at
our lives as a whole, not at these temporary incidents.
"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in
the morning." There is a morning which shall dawn
upon our darkest night. If we cannot rejoice in ourselves
in the present we can rejoice in God. We can rejoice in
the good things of the past and in the good things that
lie before us in the future.
The truly and permanently happy people are those who have
a source of happiness too deep, or too high, to be
seriously disturbed by ordinary troubles. There spiritual
balance which we can attain that gives us stability and
makes us like the anchored buoy, rather than like the
drifting object which is ever tossed about the waves of
circumstances. Faith is the anchor of the soul. In fact
faith is the greatest element in the life of happiness and
success. Those who have this inner source of happiness do
not depend upon daily events to make them happy. They
depend upon what they are, upon their relations with
God—those permanent characteristics of life that settle
them, root and ground them in Christ and in the Christian
life. The waves of trouble may pass over them but they are
not swept from their place.
Jesus taught us a valuable lesson when he said, "I
have meat that ye know not of." We may know what this
means from personal experience. We may be so submitted to
God, so obedient to him, and so trust in him that the joy
bells may be kept ringing in our lives and our souls be
rejoicing evermore until we reach that land of endless day
where trouble and sorrow, discouragements and suffering,
never come. Learn, dear reader, the blessed lesson how to
ring your joy bells and how to prevent them from being
muffled by doubts and fears.
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