We are strongly tempted, in these luxurious days, to seek out the easy ways in life. Naturally we are not fond of bearing heavy burdens, of performing hard tasks, of making self-denials. We prefer to be indolent. Not many people die of overwork; more die of ennui. Souls are withered, too, by self-indulgence. It is a false idea that God has sown his blessings thickest amid the flowers of earth’s gardens; nay, they lie thickest on the bare fields of hardship and toil. In shrinking from self-denials called for in the path of duty we are missing the best things God has to give us.