"
"Then don't you see how impossible it is that anyone should ever take
your place? Don't you see that you have a place in the world--a place
that is yours because God put you in it, just as truly as he put the
mountains, the seas, the stars in their places? And don't you see why
you must feel that you have a right to your own life-place, and that you
must hold it, no matter what others say, or do, or think, because of its
great value to God and to the world? And Grace--look at me, child! do you
think that anything in all the universe is dearer to the Father than a
human life, that is so wonderful and so eternal in its power? So life
should be the dearest thing in all the world to us. Not just the life of
each to himself, but every life--any life, the dearest thing to all. I
think this was true of Christ; I think it should be true of Christians.
I believe this with all my heart."
There was silence for a little while; then Hope said again: "Now tell me,
Grace, ought the mine to have felt dependent upon the woman who found it,
and who valued it so highly, do you think? Then why should you feel
dependent upon me? Why, you belong to me, child! Your life, the most
wonderful--the dearest thing in all the world, belongs to me; just as the
mine belonged to the woman and brought her great joy because it blessed
the world. When others threw your life aside, when you yourself tried to
throw it away, I found it. I took it. It is mine! And it is the dearest
thing in all the world to me, because it is so great a thing, because no
other life can take its place, and because it is of such great worth to
the world.
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