The most persistent grumblers are often those who have the least real cause for complaint, and who possess blessings and comforts which others might well envy. But they turn away from a heaven flooded with sunshine, and will only look at a single cloud overhead, or search the horizon on the chance of discovering others.
You will agree with me that such a case as I have described is almost, if not quite, past remedy. Have I not admitted this from the very beginning of our talk about growing old?
Prevention is better than cure, and I want to urge upon you to be, whilst youth is yours and life nearly all before you, what you would like to be, only in a still higher and better degree, when you reach hoar hairs. I want every one of you to live to a good old age. So you must crush out the first signs of discontent, silence the inclination to murmur and resolve to make the best of your lot. You must be cheerful, patient and gentle towards others, careful in speech so as not to give needless offence, true in word and deed, so that from your youth up you may each be looked upon as one who may be fully trusted.
You must be kind and considerate for the feelings and peculiarities of your neighbours, even including their prejudices, realising that all which you are called upon to render to them you also need from them in return.
You must try to avoid the temptation to hard and hasty judgments, and turn a deaf ear to slanderous tales and malicious words. If tempted to do or say things unbecoming to a servant of Christ, or to utter sharp, cutting words because they are witty and clever, though they are sure to wound, pause and ask yourself, “Should I like to be the subject of such a jest? How should I feel under the lash of a cruel though witty tongue?”
Cherish a grateful spirit. Never forget to acknowledge a kindness, and utter your thanks not as if they were a matter of form, but as if they came from your heart. When someone says a kind thing, or confers some unsought favour, do not begin to ask yourself whether the donor has something to gain by serving you. Take the service, remember the kindly words said, and believe in the possibility of unselfishness as you acknowledge them.
If you surprise yourself in the practice of habits which, without being absolutely wrong, detract from the charm and refinement of youth, you may be sure that, if not checked, they will sadly interfere with the beauty of old age.
Age should have a sweet graciousness of manner, without any sign of condescension. It should have even more winning and pretty ways, if I may call them so, than youth has, though the seeds of them will have been planted in its young days, and will have grown to fair maturity with the rest of the character. Youth is often excused because it is young for many things that would bring contempt on age; so practise now, my dear ones, every little thing that can give glory to the hoary head. Set yourselves to deserve love and to win it now, and you will never know the misery of a neglected, lonely, friendless age. So far from that, the young will seek your companionship for the sake of what you are, not for what you have. Parents will rejoice to know you for the sake of what you can teach themselves, and the blessing of your example to their children.
You cannot “walk with God” and think little and seldom of Him. Every instance of His providential care will stir you to thanksgiving and increase your love for Him. The thought of His love will make silence impossible, and as you go about your daily employments, little spontaneous bursts of praise will well straight upward from your hearts. Thus habits of praise and glad thankfulness will grow upon you from day to day.
Experience of His love in providence and grace will give you confidence, and so each want of yours will find utterance in the prayer of faith, not only for the supply of your own ceaseless needs, but for blessings on the souls and bodies of your neighbours also. You will want “to love the Lord your God with heart and soul and mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself,” and you will want and ask for the same longings to be felt by every human being.