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Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
Mental Influence
The Lord has shown me that many who are always complaining,
and are apparently feeble, are not in so bad a condition as they think.
Some of them have a powerful will, which, if exercised in the right
direction, would control the imagination, and be a potent means of
resisting disease; but it is too frequently the case that the will is on the
wrong side, and stubbornly refuses to yield to reason. That will has
settled the matter: invalids they are, and the attention given to invalids
they will have, irrespective of the judgment of others.
Thousands are sick and dying around us who might get well and
live, if they would. But their imagination controls them. They fear
they will be made worse if they engage in any physical labor, when
this is just the change they need. They should exercise their will-power
and rise above their difficulties, engage in useful employment suited
to their strength, and forget that they have aching backs, sides, lungs,
and heads.
Let invalids have an exalted aim in life, seeking to be useful and
efficient in their own families, and to become useful members of
society; let them not require the attention of the whole family to be
centered on themselves, nor draw largely upon the sympathies of
others; let them do their part in bestowing love and sympathy upon
the unfortunate, remembering that each has woes and trials peculiar to
himself. In thus blessing others they will realize an abundant blessing
themselves.
Those who, so far as it is possible, engage in the work of doing
good to others, by giving practical demonstration of their interest in
them, are not only relieving the ills of life in helping them to bear
burdens, but are at the same time contributing largely to their own
health of soul and body. Doing good is a work that benefits both
giver and receiver. If you forget self in your interest for others, you
gain a victory over your own infirmities. The pleasure of doing good
animates the mind, and vibrates through the whole body. If thou clothe
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the naked, and “bring the poor that are cast out to thy house,” and
“deal thy bread to the hungry,” “then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily.”