Some one says that the secret of a happy old age is a well watched past. The secret of any today is a well watched yesterday. And there is no better way to keep our days beautiful and free from memories that vex us afterwards than to tell Jesus every night all that we have said and done during the day. –
Making our Report, in A Heart Garden
By and by in even the best life we come to a door which opens into old age. Many are disposed to feel that this door can lead to nothing beautiful. We cannot go on with our former tireless energy, our crowded days, and our great achievements. But there is altogether too much letting go, too much dropping of tasks, too much falling out of the pilgrim march when old age comes on. We may not be able to run swiftly as before. We tire much more easily. But old age may be very beautiful and full of fruit. This door opens into a period of great possibilities of usefulness, a true crowning of the life. Old age is not a blot, if it is what it should be. It is not a withering of the life, but a ripening. It is not something to dread, but is the completion of God's plan. –
Life's Open Doors, in The Book of Comfort
Death is not a period in the sentence of life – it is only a comma, a little breathing place, with more to come after. Just how the sentence after the comma will read, we cannot know. Just in what form we shall continue to live, we may not even guess. We know that we shall be the same persons. Individuality will never be lost. I shall be I through all changes and transformations. The being that shall be serving God a million years hence will be the same person that played about the home in early childhood, wrought in the hard tasks of mature days, and suffered and sorrowed. I will always be I – there never can be any confusion of individuality. This is perhaps all we can assert positively about the immortal life. But this is a great deal. We shall lose nothing in our efforts. This makes it immensely worth while to live. –
The Meaning of Immortality, in The Book of Comfort