The Duty of Small Daily Joys

picket fence
Originally uploaded by podso

Henry Van Dyke, a good Dutchman born during the Civil War, once wrote: "She spoke of the duty of being ready to welcome happpiness as well as to endure pain, and for small daily joys, like the evening light, and the smell of roses, and the singing of birds [and white picket fences]. She spoke of the faith that rests on the Unseen Wisdom and Love like a child on its mother's breast, and the melting away of doubts in the warmth of an effort to do some good in the world."