we be in the state of life that we find ourselves in. What a consolation for us! As we work, we are doing the will of God. Then again, contemplate the Son of God. He in whom were all things created in heaven and on earth humbled Himself, "taking the form of a servant" (Phil. ii. 7). The first thirty years of His life were spent in the workshop of His foster-father, St. Joseph. Ought not this consideration make you contented with your lot?
2. Another means of turning the thorns of your calling into roses is found in this, that your work may be made meritorious for heaven. Such roses never fade. Nothing is easier than this, for God in His mercy counts to our merit a cup of cold water given in His name. How much more meritorious than a cup of cold water will be your daily labors and trials if offered up to Him! St. Paul exhorts us; "Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance" (Col. iii. 23, 24). If you work for God, not merely for men, all your labors and trials will become valuable for eternity, and will merit for you the "inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that can not fade, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pet. i. 4). The wages you earn upon earth are indeed small, but the reward you may receive for them in heaven is incomprehensibly great. In this manner the thorns
