But this desire and effort after a knowledge of God and obedience to His will do not come without a struggle.  We are strange and mysterious creatures, having within us a nature that is most susceptible to temptations, to do evil.  Every one of us is conscious of a struggle constantly going on in our hearts and lives between evil and good.  The temptations to selfishness, greed, unkindness, untruthfulness, irreverence, indolence, are constant and severe until we have by long conflict and repeated victory habituated our hearts to choosing the right.  Yet every victory over self and temptation helps us toward that spiritual attainment which will in time enable us to say, with the sweet psalmist of Israel:  “The Lord is the portion of my soul; the Lord is the strength of my heart; the Lord is my light and my salvation.”

Most usually the heart first turns toward God with deep earnestness through sorrow.  There are many griefs and burdens of life which cannot be alleviated or lightened in any way except by spiritual comfort and help.  And this spiritual comfort and help are among the deepest realities of life.  There is a strength, a happiness, a peace and a support in sorrow which the world can neither give nor take away.  How priceless a blessing to possess!  The saddest, darkest, most suffering life can be irradiated and uplifted and enriched by this spiritual blessing.  The most fortunately circumstanced life may be made poor by its absence.  Dean Stanley tells us of a sister who for perhaps forty years was a constant sufferer from spinal disease, and during that period almost constantly confined to her couch.  Yet her countenance was irradiated with cheerfulness, and she seemed to inspire everyone who came near her with comfort, and with ardor and enthusiasm for goodness.  Such examples are not rare.  Every community knows some person or persons sustained in deep affliction, though long continued trial and sorrow and loss, by this unseen spiritual power.  On the other hand, experience and observation show us constantly recurring examples of discontent, peevishness, unhappiness, on the part of those who appear to be specially favored in the possession of the comforts and riches of this life.  Lord Chesterfield said that, having seen and experienced all the pomps and pleasures of life, he was disgusted with and hated them all, and only desired, like a weary traveler, to be allowed “to sleep in the carriage” until the end came.  But Paul the apostle, contemplating the close of his eventful life of sorrow and suffering, said:  “I have fought the good fight?  I have finished the course?  I have kept the faith:  henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”

So it seems only a reasonable appeal to every young heart, as soon as it is mature enough to understand and make choice among the realities and verities of life, to choose this better part; to keep the heart receptive to and expectant of this divine comfort and help; to seek to know and obey the will of this God of all consolation.  But this choice is a purely individual matter.  No one can make another person good any more than he can make him happy.  All that anyone, all that the wisest and best teachers and parents can do, is to present the arguments for and urge the choice of the better part.