Few positions in life are so full of importunities as that of the mother of a family, or mistress of a house. She may have a dozen interruptions while writing one letter, or settling an account. What holiness, [pg 033] what self-control, is needed to be always calm and unruffled amid these little vexations, and never to manifest the slightest impatience!
Leaving the work without apparent annoyance, replying with a smile upon the lips, awaiting patiently the end of a long conversation, and finally returning calmly to the yet unfinished work—all this is the sign of a recollected soul, and one that waits upon God.
Oh! what blessings are shed around them by such patient souls ... but, alas! how rarely they are to be met with!
XX.
There are times in one's life when all the world seems to turn against us. Our motives are misunderstood, our words misconstrued, a malicious smile or an unkind word reveals to us the unfriendly feelings of others. Our advances are repulsed, or [pg 034] met with icy coldness; a dry refusal arrests on our lips the offer of help....
Oh, how hard it all seems, and the more so that we cannot divine the cause!
Courage, patience, poor disconsolate one! God is making a furrow in your heart, where He will surely sow His grace.
It is rare when injustice, or slights patiently borne, do not leave the heart at the close of the day filled with marvellous joy and peace.
It is the seed God has sown, springing up and bearing fruit.