THERE are many children and young people who are unhappy. They cannot get on with their brothers and sisters; they even grumble against their parents; they quarrel with their school-mates; they think their teachers are always against them; they complain about the food they get, and they think there are many other children who are better off than they are.
Unhappiness and discontent can be seen in their faces. What is the reason? we ask.
"That brother of mine," says one. "My sister," says another. "Everyone in the house," says a third. "No one understands me," says another. And so we might go on.
In other words, " Everyone is wrong—except myself."
Yes, that is just where the trouble lies I "Myself," that troublesome "Me."
Well, suppose you get away from everyone else; mount a horse and ride as far as you can into the lonely countryside, or buy a ticket and go as far as the train will take you.
Then sit down on a hill where you can see neither brother nor sister nor parent nor school-mate nor house.
Then will you be happy? So you think, perhaps, with no one to disturb you there. But whom will you find there? Still that same "Me." And it is that "Me" which causes all the trouble.
Yes, it is not so much that other people are wrong, but that you yourself are wrong. And if you are all wrong, you need to be converted.
"God be merciful to me a sinner," was the prayer of the publican, and it is always so if anyone wants to be right with God; he must acknowledge that he is wrong and that he is a sinner.
If you do this, you will not be so ready to find fault with brothers, sisters, and parents. Your own sins must be forgiven if you want to be happy.
But there is something more. Our own will is corrupt; the will of God is perfect. In order to be truly happy we must put our own will aside and carry out the will of God. Self-will produces strife; subjection to the will of God produces peace and happiness.
All the unrest and discontent which is to be found all over the world are caused by disobedience and rebellion against the will of God. If every man, woman, and child in the world were subject to the will of God, each one would be happy and the kingdom of God would be established publicly on the earth.
In the meantime everyone who is subject to the will of God has the peace and happiness of the kingdom in his own heart.
This is possible for every reader, but without Christ, it is impossible to find happiness.
A. A. E.