BEYOND REMEDY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 26, 23 October 1937, Page 12

BEYOND REMEDY

Joseph Fort Newton.)

(By

"Years ago/' writes a reader, "I made a bad mistake which I .cannot forget,- much less nndo. It was worse •fclian wicked ; it was stupid. Utohappy results followed and they are still gbing on, alas. "What the blunder was doeg not matter; it was fooliah enough, but the fact is as it is,- though I have regretted it times without end. Why do our sins and follies pursue us so relentlesslyH" There is no mistaking the fact that tfoolish deeds, like evil deeds, come home to roost. We canuot act stupidly and cruelly, even though tlessly, without suffering for it soon or late. Yet we 'are not ju&tified in s&ying. of any situation that the case is hopeless , for it is not t-rue. Even nature teaches us a lesson in this way; no sooner is a limb broken than sbe starts to mend it. The same facts hold good of character and destiny ; nothing is final unless we let it be so. The worst mistake may be redeemed; it may take time and toil, but there are no barred gates on tlie road. Life does not end with our yesterdays, and it knows no Nevermore. The fact as it is may remain, but our attitude toward it may be so changed that an error may be trahsformed into wings that lift. Admit that the one all-pervading law of life is the law of cause and elfect, does it cease to operate when our mistakes have brought disaster upon us? No, it goes on working, and we can use it for good. Things do not stay put. Every result is followed by other results; it is ours to sea that we make the best oi them, Th results of folly, and even sin, may be neutralised, as 'the sea purifles the sewer. , Finality is not in the sewer, but in the sea, . My reader fails to distinguish between the man who wants to chango the past and the man who does not care. No situation is beyond xemedy Li we seek it. Also my reader forgets another faci - — the greatest fact of both faith and life — the reality of f orgiveness ; that is, giving back what we have lost, a divine tide of love Washing away our petty blunder s.