Life's Lesson

  There are times in one's life when all the world seems to
turn against us. Our motives are misunderstood, our words
misconstrued, an unkind word reveals to us the unfriendly
feelings of others.
  The fact is, that it is rare when injustice, or slights, pa-
tiently borne, do not leave the heart at the close of the day
filled with a marvelous sense of peace--perhaps not at once
--but after you've had a chance to reflect a bit. It is the seed
God has sown, springing up and bearing fruit.

  We learn, as the years roll onward and we leave the
  past behind, that much we had counted sorrow, but
  proved that God is kind; that many a flower we'd
  longed for had hidden a thorn of pain, and many a
  rugged by-path led to fields of ripened grain.

The clouds that cover the sunshine; they cannot ban-
ish the sun. And the earth shines out the brighter when
the weary rain is done. We must stand in the deepest
shadow to see the clearest light; and often through
Wrong's own darkness comes the welcome strength of
Right.

--Ella Wheeler Wilcox