by J.R. Miller

A ship is made to go in the water, and no matter how deep the sea nor how wild the tempest, all goes well as long as the water does not get into the ship. The problem of managing a ship is not to keep the ship out of the water but to keep the water out of the ship.

In this world, we cannot avoid all cares and trials and temptations. The goal of true Christian living is to keep these cares and trials and temptations from getting into our souls. Some people let all their frets and worries at once into their hearts, and they soon live out their lives in sourness, irritability, and discontent. They become thus miserable themselves, and they make all around them miserable. They cast, not cooling, healthful, refreshing shade on others, but melancholy, darksome, chilling shadows.

Learn to keep your cares in your hands and out of your hearts. Nothing in this world is more beautiful than a Christian life with many trials and cares, yet remaining ever peaceful and joyous amid them all. This is the real goal of noble Christian living.

James Russell Miller (1840 – 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.