1.01.01 Book 1: Chapter 1

1

You were like a leafy bush, and many little things came to you for shelter. You were not great or important, but you could help those little things. And it was the joy of your life to help them.

Now you cannot do anything at all. Some desola­tion, illness, poverty, or something that you cannot talk about, has overwhelmed you, and all your green leaves have gone. So you cannot shelter even the least little bird; you are like this bush with its bare twigs, no use to anyone-that is what you think.

.But look again at this bare bush. Look at the delicate tracery of lines on the snow. The sun is shining behind the bush, and so every little twig is helping to make something that is very beautiful. Perhaps other eyes, that you do not see, are looking on it too, wondering at what can be made of sun and snow and poor bare twigs. And the Spring will come again, for after Winter there is always Spring. When will the Spring come? When will your bush be green with leaves again? When will the little birds you love come back to you? I do not know. Only I know that Sun and Snow are working together for good; and the day will come when the very memory of help­lessness to help, and bareness, and poverty and loneliness will pass as a dream of the night; and all that seemed lost will be restored.

Now, in the multitude of the sorrows that you have in your heart, let these comforts refresh your soul. They will not fail you for He will not fail you who is the God of the Sun and of the Snow.