fe is narrow, humdrum,
unpoetic, uncongenial, even cold and unkindly; yet there for the time
is your place, and there are your duties. And right in this sphere,
narrow though it seem, there is room for holiest visions of Christ and
for the richest revealings of his grace and blessing.

It will be remembered that Jesus himself, after his glimpse of higher
things in the temple, went back to the lowly peasant home at Nazareth,
and there for eighteen years more found scope enough for the
development of the richest nature this world ever saw, and for the
fullest and completest doing of duty ever wrought beneath the skies.
Whatever, then, may be our shrinking from dull tasks, our distaste for
dreary duty, our discontent with a narrow place and with limiting
circumstances, we should go promptly to the work that God assigns, and
accept the conditions that lie in the lot which he appoints. And in
our hardest toil, our most irksome tasks, our lowliest duties, our
dreariest and most uncongenial surroundings, we shall have but to lift
up our eyes to see the blessed form of Christ standing before us, with
cheer, sympathy, and encouragement for us.

There is more of the lesson. Not only did Christ reveal himself to
these disciples while at their lowly work, but he helped them in it.
He told them where to cast their net, and turned their failure to
success. We think of Christ as helping us to endure temptation, to
bear trial, to overcome sin, to do spiritual duties, but we sometimes
forget that he is just as ready to help us in our common work. That
morning he helped the disciples in their fishing. He will help us in
our trade or business, or in whatever work we have to do.

We all have our discouraged days, when things do not go well. The
young people fail in their lessons at school, although they have
studied hard, and really have done their best. Or the mothers fail in
their household work. The children are hard to control. It has been
impossible to keep good temper, to maintain that sweetness and
lovingness that are so essential to a happy day. They try to be
gentle, kindly, and patient, but, try as they will, their minds become
ruffled and fretted with cares. They come to the close of the long,
unhappy hours disturbed, defeated, discouraged. They have done their
best, but they feel that they have only failed. They fall upon their
knees, but they have only tears for a prayer. Yet if they will lift up
their eyes,