CHAPTER XII
First Steps
“Who hath despised the day of small
things?”—Zech. iv. 10
We cannot become adepts in right thinking and thought-control all at once. We all have to grow from small beginnings, gradually increasing in strength and stature. In other words, we all have to make a start in an apparently small and humble way. I say “apparently” advisedly, for although it may seem to be a small thing deliberately to think thoughts opposite in character to those which our feelings and natural or lower nature prompt us to think, yet it is really a big undertaking, and, if we are successful, a high achievement. It may seem to be a small thing deliberately to think thoughts of good-will about one who has wronged us, or upset us, but it is really a tremendous thing of eternal importance. If we merely give way to the promptings of our earth nature we
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