To be glad of life, because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars;
to be satisfied with your possessions, but not contented with yourself
until you have made the best of them;
to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness,
and to fear nothing except cowardice;
to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts;
to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except
his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners;
to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends,
and every day of Christ;
and to spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit,
in God's out-of-doors --
these are the little guideposts on the footpath to peace.
~Henry Van Dyke