March 17

“He was a sworn foe to all complaining and murmurs. Every complaining spirit, he said, implied some dissatisfaction with God’s decrees, and a good deal of self-love.”

“Goodness, he taught, should always be attractive, ready to adapt itself to the wills and wishes of others; cheerful, bright, well-balanced, free from all singularity and self-consciousness.”

From Life of S. Francis de Sales

“If we could do our work in a brighter, less anxious spirit, it would wear us less. It is worry, not work, that wears.”

GOULBURN

March 15

“In this world, where there is so much sorrow, and so much unnecessary grief, of fret and worry, how grateful ought we to be that God sends along, here and there, a natural heart-singer, who, by his very carriage and spontaneous actions, calms, cheers, and helps his fellows. God bless the good-natured, for they bless everybody else.”

“Give us, oh, give us the man who sings at his work. Be his occupation what it may, he is equal to any of those who follow the same pursuit in sullen silence. He will do more in the same time, he will do it better, he will persevere longer.”

CARLYLE

“True joy is a serene and sober motion, and they are miserably out that take laughing for rejoicing. The seat of it is within, and there is no cheerfulness like the resolution of a brave mind.”

SENECA

March 12

“The way some persons lay on their life layer after layer of blackness is pitiable; they nurse their grief for the wrongs of men till they have no pleasure but in brooding over darkness. Instead of that they ought to pray - ‘Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.’ The moment we pray that prayer with full desire and yearning, we see that light, and beautiful it is! It wakens all life, all energy, every work and hope and thought. How swiftly when we see it we rise from the dead!”

STOPFORD BROOKE

“Open our eyes, thou Sun of life and gladness,
That we may see that glorious world of thine!
It shines for us in vain, while drooping sadness
Enfolds us here like mist; come, Power benign,
Touch our chilled hearts with vernal smile,
Our wintry course do Thou beguile,
Nor by the wayside ruins let us mourn,
Who have th’ eternal towers for our appointed bourne.”

KEBLE

March 10

“Wondrous is the strength of cheerfulness.”

CARLYLE

“Happiness, and brightness in God’s service, is a great gift, and one that wins others to Him. We are told to ‘make melody in our hearts to the Lord’, and how can we do this unless we are bright and cheerful, and serve Him gladly? . . . you must live the life, not merely do the work. Live a quiet peaceful life alone with God, stayed on Him, and the work will come out of it. You will then do it simply, unconsciously. Try to keep yourself perfectly free and ready for Him to use you.”

H. MONSELL

“Every now and then there are flashes of light upon the gospel-page which let us see what a bright, sunny, sympathetic life the Saviour led, how perfectly free from harshness and asceticism was that character which, at the same time, carried a sweet and gentle seriousness and a robust earnestness with it wherever it went.”

PHILLIPS BROOKS

March 9

“This joy in obeying, this happiness in the sense of Christ’s help, this cheerfulness in the sight of God and man, is one of the great missionary powers on earth, second only to the power of love. And if we would ask how, without any ostentation, we can best obey our Lord’s command to ‘let our light so shine before men that they shall glorify our Father in heaven’; how we can combine such a command with the direction ‘not to let our left hand know what our right hand doeth’; the answer is, let all men read in your face the happiness of a Christian that loves his Master. Let them see in your unvarying cheerfulness the assurance of your faith, and the certainty of your hope, and the blessedness of your love.”

Bishop TEMPLE

“ . . . . So others shall
Take patience, labour, to thy heart and hand
From thy hand and heart, and thy brave cheer
And God’s grace fructify through thee to all.
The least flower with a brimming cup may stand
And share its dewdrop with another near.”

ELIZABETH B. BROWNING