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Welcome to the Inspirational Living Podcast. Today's reading was edited and adapted from As Natural as Life by Charles Gordon Ames published in 1895. The years of a tree's life can be counted by the rings in its woody trunk, and by looking at how these annual growths differ in thickness, we can tell our guests what years were friendly or backward, warm or cold, wet or dry. Thus the tree writes in itself the

the history of its life and the record of all passing seasons. To an eye that sees all things as they are, each person's inner being must contain the stored up results of all their choices, all the forces and principles that have affected and heart. We number our days as the tree its years. They make of us what we are, and what we are to be. Indeed, what we call our character Simply the sum of inward effects produced by thought. And action. Worldly matters do not stand with any of us as they did a year ago. Our life has grown richer or poorer, deeper or shallower.

We are better or worse, more under the rule of the truth and the right, or less so. The Divine Voice that calls us upward. Sounds nearer and clearer, or farther off and fainter, according to how we have heeded or neglected its invitations. This means that some days count for more than Because we put more into them and get more out of them No day is bright when the mind is dull. No day

dull when the mind is bright. Those are the great days which yield great events. But what we call an event is always an outcropping of what went before. There comes a day when the blossoms open, when the ripe fruit falls, when the ship enters port, and after weary climbing we reach a terrace or summit. Draw a deeper breath, survey a wider prospect, and feel rewarded for our toil. The great days of life are not the days when something happens outside of us. They are the days when something happens inside, days of spirit. Spiritual expansion, days of discovery or illumination when we gain a clearer perception of high realities.

Deeper meanings in life, days of moral reinforcement, when we make decisions and are prepared for worthier achievement. Our greater birthdays are. The days when we enter into truer life and come into possession of a great character. In reflecting on what the days have done or may do for us, we naturally think about life and time. What is life? No definition seems to make it plain, but perhaps we have a right to say that life is Is our share of God. While we touch the transient and then leave it, we live it. Live in the Eternal and never leave it. Our lives are set fast in the larger life.

Like the limbs and leaves of a tree. In the very act of contemplating ourselves, we look into the infinite. Just as in contemplating a star, we look into the boundlessness of... The more we ponder, the more we wonder. Mystery of our existence forever connects itself with that larger mystery which makes our existence possible. And we feel with wonder and awe how good it is to be alive. But our present share in eternity. Duration, like space, is infinite. It has neither beginning nor end. But as the orbit of every star is a circle enclosing some tract of the immeasurable space, so our earthly life takes us.

In some tract of the immeasurable duration. Our limited being can only take in a little, but these littles give us a hint of the large, as a drop is a hint of the ocean. To us mortals, life and time, within these limitations of sense, are conditions of everything else. Emerson exclaims, Give me health in a day. And I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous. What can we do with health in a day? We can live, consciously or unconsciously, in infinite space and infinite time. We can take in something new. Of the universal life and the God-like forces. We can come in touch with nature, humanity, and the supreme spirit.

Between every rising and setting sun, we can gain visions of truth and beauty. We can put our powers of mind and body under the discipline of virtue and usefulness. We can live, learn, and love. We can do, enjoy, and grow. Thus, in the very eyes of Jesus Christ, we are blessed. Of finding the world around us, we find ourselves and acquire the use of our faculties. We store up the results of observation and... Reflection. We become acquainted with reality. We keep step with the larger order. We can convert the days and years into building material for the temple of a noble personality. How precious then is time.

How sacred then is life? At a funeral I often find myself asking... What did the person... Whose body lies here get out of their earthly years. This whirled an infant with empty hands. What did they carry with them when they left? They have moved about among their friends; they have looked on the earth and sky, and into human eyes. Thousands of days and nights have passed over their head; they have seen the flowers come and the leaves fall; they have felt the fever of desire and the chill of disappointment; they have heard words of truth, and soft inward calls of reason and conscience. God gave them time and opportunity. What did they do with their time?

What use did they make of opportunity? What did they get out of life? But for the dead I know not how to answer these questions, but I do know this. Let us not shrink from self-questioning. As the years go by, let us ask ourselves, has life acquired a deeper meaning and higher value? Do we care more about life? For good things and care most for the best? Are we more ready to take a suggestion of self-improvement? More open to admit our mistakes? More sensitive to the distinctions of right Have we been growing more reasonable, calm, and self-possessed, more amenable to discipline, and more skillful in the worthy use of our abilities?

Has this human world in which we live schooled us to a better understanding of what it is to be just and kind, pure and true, helpful and glad? Have we grown stronger to resist bad examples, yet more tender in our compassion toward human frailty and folly? Have we been Drawing closer in fellowship to all good people, and more willing to do our part in all good work? If we can say yes to such questions, let us thank God who has helped us to learn from our days the wisdom of the heavens. Every year is full of opportunities. Our pleasures and our pains, our victories and defeats, our games and our goals.

...the things in our losses, the flowers that have bloomed along our path, and the thorns that have torn our flesh, when we have left them all behind. Can we not see in the review that they were part of our spiritual training? you We live in deeds, not years, in thoughts, not breaths, in feelings, not in figures on a dial. The one who lives most is the one who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. By the right use of things that are seen and temporal, we rise into communion with things unseen and eternal. All common things, each day's events, that with the hours begin and end, our pleasures and our discontents are rungs by the Lord.

Which we may ascend. In climbing this ladder of life, we leave the rungs behind, and they are soon forgotten. So must it be with the days themselves, and with what they bring. One glance backward tells this story of merciful forgetfulness. How many things now look little with the eyes of the Lord. Once looked large. Who cares to remember their toilsome days or their tossing nights? The pains that wrenched our nerves or the pangs that smote our heart? It is much the same with the pleasures, achievements, and applauds that gratified us most. The events that began with the hours Ended with the hours and our entire past is rapidly gliding away to mingle with

vague memories of childhood. Does the traveler remember their steps? Does Sailor remember the waves they crossed? Or the winds that helped or hindered them? The steps must be taken. The voyage must be made. But the incidents by the way are forgotten at the destination. Let us welcome the experiences that conduct us to wisdom. And goodness to power in peace. Welcome all the rungs by which we may ascend. Welcome to... To the oblivion which gently closes the past behind, As a brighter future opens before us.