The Trusteeship of Life

120 pages. ChapterIntroduction 5I. 7The Finer Spirit of TrusteeshipII. 16The Joy Note in LifeIII. 27The Supreme Court of Self-RespectIV. 35What Money Cannot BuyV. 44Life's Walls and Its Open RoadVI. 53The Red Blood of CourageVII. 64Buying at the Store of LifeVIII. 72The Spell of the One Thing LackingIX. 80The Glory of the CommonplaceX. 88The Vision of High IdealsXI. 101When We Change the EmphasisXII. 110The Crowning Gift in LifeIThe Finer Spirit of TrusteeshipTHE individual never sees life in the radiant glow of its greatness, its dignity and its privilege until he realizes it as trusteeship. Life itself is but the individual trusteeship of time. Man does not truly own even his own life; he has merely a life-interest in it, and sometime he must surrender it. In the truest sense, man owns nothing absolutely, to do with precisely as he pleases; over all his possessions ever breathes the spirit of trusteeship. His time, his money, his health, his mind, his character, his business, his worldly goods, his opportunities, his influence-all that he is, and has, he holds but as trustee for his higher self, the world around him, and humanity itself. These possessions are all covered by a first mortgage of the rights of others. Trusteeship began away back in the dawn of history, with the very first man, when the earth was young and the first tenants moved in. Adam had a wonderful chance: he owned the whole world except one tree, he lived absolutely rent-free with everything provided for him without cost, and had very little to do. He was entrusted with three things-himself, a garden and a woman-and he failed in his administration of all three. And we have been paying the price ever since. Adam ignored trusteeship, Peter denied it, Pilate repudiated it-and all suffered. Across the pages of all lives is written this one word, trusteeship. The final test of the men of the ages is not what they had, but what they did with it. Trusteeship is one of the great words of life because it concentrates in a single expression the essence of all true living. It inspires man with the revelation of his constant relation to himself, to all others and to the Infinite. It gives a royal dignity to life, making man, not a mere isolated individual, but interblended with other lives and an indispensable factor in the whole scheme of living.