"It is because we have to go,
morning after morning, through rain, through shine, through headache,
heartache, to the appointed spot and do the appointed work; because,
and only because, we have to stick to that work through the eight or
ten hours, long after rest would be so sweet; because the school-boy's
lessons must be learned at nine o'clock, and learned without a slip;
because the accounts on the ledger must square to a cent; because the
goods must tally exactly with the invoice; because good temper must be
kept with children, customers, neighbors, not seven times, but seventy
times seven; because the besetting sin must be watched to-day,
to-morrow, next day; in short, . . . it is because, and only because,
of the rut, plod, grind, hum-drum in the work, that we get at last
those self-foundations laid," which are essential to all noble
character.
So there is a blessing for us in the commonest, wearisomest task-work
of our lives. "Blessed be drudgery" is truly a beatitude. We all need
the discipline of this tireless plodding to build us up into beautiful
character. Even the loveliest flowers must have their roots in common
earth; so, many of the sweetest things in human lives grow out of the
soil of drudgery. "Be thou, O man, like unto the rose. Its root is
indeed in dirt and mud, but its flowers still send forth grace and
perfume."
Take again life's struggles and conflicts.
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