Wellness Wonders Daily

“What do we mean,” asked Henry Ward Beecher, “when we say that a man ‘is made’? Is it that he has got the control of his lower instincts, so that they are only fuel to his higher feelings, giving force to his nature? That his affections are like vines, sending out on all sides blossoms and clustering fruits? That his tastes are so cultivated that all beautiful things speak to him, and bring him their delights? That his understanding is opened, so that he walks through every hall of knowledge, and gathers its treasures? That his moral feelings are so developed and quickened that he holds sweet commerce with Heaven? Oh, no—none of these things. He is cold and dead in heart, and mind, and soul. Only his passions are alive; but—he is worth five hundred thousand dollars!” What do you think when you say a man "IS MADE"?

Henry Ward Beecher puts it to us in these words: “And we say a man is ‘ruined.’ Are his wife and children dead? Oh, no. Have they had a quarrel, and are they separated from him? Oh, no. Has he lost his reputation through crime? No. Is his reason gone? Oh, no; it is as sound as ever. Is he struck through with disease? No. He has lost his property, and he is ruined. The man ruined! When shall we learn that ‘a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth’?” And the story below tells us how mistaken we may be when we say a man ‘is ruined.’ Orison Swett Marden says, “A bankrupt merchant, returning home one night, said to his noble wife, “My dear, I am ruined; everything we have is in the hands of the sheriff.” After a few moments of silence the wife looked into his face and asked, “Will the sheriff sell you?” “Oh, no.” “Will the sheriff sell me?” “Oh, no.” “Will he sell the children?” “Oh, no.” “Then do not say that we have lost every...