"I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people." Psalms 35:18
"Praise the Lord for His work in and through you!!! We are enjoying and growing in the "Soldiers of the Sanctuary" series..."
- Constance, Tennessee
"Calvery greetings may reach to you as many as the sea sand. Thank you very much Pr. John Skeete. On behalf of the Fiwagoh Mission Oprhanage Ministries, I thank Our God for this great blessing He sent to us through you and the Sanctuary lessons. They were amazing and we are teaching other pupils and even church members. We will continue to pray for you and your wife and the whole ministry..."
"Thank you for your good work. I will be praying for your progress..."
"Meeting the needs of body, mind, and spirit is so important in these days with diseases, drugs and immorality pounding the human species. I am thankful you are doing your part to make a positive difference..."
- Sylvia, Michigan
"I really appreciate what you all were able to do to help me, may God continue to bless you..."
- Tee, California
"Thank you so much. Power packed presentation. I learned so much. What I will focus on is to die to self daily. I want Jesus & God to be King of my life, my heart, my mind...I need to get His character, seek His face, so it may reflect in me...All glory to the Lamb & to the Father! And thank you for all your diligent study! Keep shining & showing His character!
- Theresa, Wisconsin
The Secret of Happiness
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for
there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom,
in the grave, whither thou goest." Ecclesiastes 9:10
The poet stood at his window and watched a neighbor walk by. He walked--not as a man should, in joy and triumph--but with slow step and sagging shoulders, like a man with a great burden on his soul.
John Burroughs knew why. The man had no work he loved, nothing to keep him busy and content, to give his days purpose and direction.
"And idle man is a wretched man," he thought... Surely no one knew better than he the blessedness of work, of life-giving and life-sustaining work!
Had he not been idle himself once, and one of the most utterly dejected of God's creatures? Life had lost its savor for him, had become empty and stagnant; he couldn't eat or sleep, couldn't think or dream.
Work had saved him. Good hard work on a farm, with his hands, raking and hoeing, plowing and planting, feeling the good earth between his fingers... The plow had done its perfect work on him, as on his fields. The bitterness and boredom had been plowed under, the stagnant pools of discontent drained off. The planting and pruning had shaped his life as surely as they had shaped his fruit trees...
John Burroughs turned from the window, walked slowly to his desk... He picked up his pen and began to write:
"There is a condition or circumstance that has a greater bearing upon the happiness of life than any other. What is it?... It is one of the simplest things of the world and within the reach of all. If this secret were something I could put up at auction, what a throng of bitters I should have... Some might say it is health, or money, or friends, or this or that possession, but you may have all these things and not be happy...
Without the one thing I have in mind, none of these things would long help their possessors to be happy... You would be disappointed when I tell you what this all-important thing is-- it is so common, so near at hand, and so many people have so much of it and yet are not happy. They have too much of it, or else the kind that is not best suited to them. What is the best thing for a stream? It is to keep moving. If it stops, it stagnates. So the best thing for a man is that which keeps the currents going--the physical, the moral, and the intellectual currents. Hence the secret of happiness is--something to do; some congenial work.
Few persons realize how much of their happiness is dependent upon their work, upon the fact that they are kept busy and not left to feed upon themselves. Happiness comes most to persons who seek her least, and think least about it. It is not an object to be sought; it is a state to be induced. It must follow and not lead. It must overtake you, and not you overtake it. How important is health to happiness, yet the best promoter of health is something to do.
Blessed is the man who has some congenial work, some occupation in which he can put his heart, and which affords a complete outlet to all the forces that are in him." - John Burroughs
DISCOVERY
I wished to shirk my task one day:
I much preferred some pleasant play.
But when the work I'd once begun,
Twas full of interest, joy and fun.
The dust removed from off my books
Brought happy thoughts and cheerful looks.
Weeds, in the garden, put to rout,
Made beauty blossom round about.
Why use my time in strength in skill
In hard-wrought play, to serve me ill?
Why from sure pleasure should I shirk,
Since there is play in pleasant work?
Benjamin Keech