than the way some people let themselves
be bent down by their load of duty or care. There really is no reason
why this should be so. God never puts any greater burden upon us than
we are able to bear, with the help he is ready to give. Christ stands
ever close beside us, willing to carry the heaviest end of every load
that is laid upon us.

Men never break down so long as they keep a happy, joyous heart. It is
the sad heart that tires. Whatever our load, we should always keep a
songful spirit in our breast. There are two ways of meeting hard
experiences. One way is to struggle and resist, refusing to yield.
The result is, the wounding of the soul and the intensifying of the
hardness. The other way is sweetly to accept the circumstances or the
restraints, to make the best of them, and to endure them songfully and
cheerfully. Those who live in the first of these ways grow old at
mid-life. Those who take the other way of life keep a young, happy
heart even to old age.

The true way to live is to yield to no burden; to carry the heaviest
load with courage and gladness; never to let one's eyes be turned
downward toward the earth, but to keep them ever lifted up to the
hills. Men whose work requires them to stoop all the time--to work in
a bent posture--every now and then may be seen straightening themselves
up, taking a long, deep breath of air, and looking up toward the skies.
Thus their bodies are preserved in health and erectness in spite of
their work. Whatever our toil or burden, we should train ourselves to
look often upward, to stand erect, and get a frequent glimpse of the
sky of God's love, and a frequent breath of heaven's pure, sweet air.
Thus we shall keep our souls erect under the heaviest load of work or
care.

The miracle of the straightening of the woman who was bent double, has
its gospel of precious hope for any who have failed to learn earlier
the lesson of keeping straight. The bowed down may yet be lifted up.
The curvature of eighteen years' growth and stiffening was cured in a
moment. The woman who for so long had not been able to look up, went
away with her eyes upturned to God in praise.

The same miracle Christ is able to work now upon souls that are bent,
whether by sin, by sorrow, or by life's load of toil. He can undo
sin's terrible work, and restore the divine image to the soul. He can
give such comfort to the sad heart that eyes long downcast shall be
lifted up to look upon