[Dark Saint Alaick]

More subtle still are the little tricks that seeds have of getting
animals and people to give them a lift on their way. Many a bird has
picked a bright red berry from a bush, with a feeling of gratitude, no
doubt, that his temporal needs are thus graciously supplied. He
swallows the sweet husk, and incidentally the seed, paying no attention
to the latter, and flies on his way. The seed remains unchanged and
undigested, and is thus carried far from home, and gets its chance.
So, too, many seeds are provided with burrs and spikes, which stick in
sheep's wool, dog's hair, or the clothing of people, and so travel
abroad, to the far country--the land of growth, the land of promise.

There is something pathetically human in the struggle plants make to
reach the light; tiny rootlets have been known to pierce rocks in their
stern determination to reach the light that their soul craves. They
refuse to be resigned to darkness and despair! Who has not marveled at
the intelligence shown by the canary vine, the wild cucumber plant, or
the morning glory, in the way their tendrils reach out and find the
rusty nail or sliver on the fence--anything on which they can rise into
the higher air; even as you and I reach out the trembling tendrils of
our souls for something solid to rest upon?

There is no resignation in Nature, no quiet folding of the hands, no
hypocritical saying, "Thy will be done!" and giving in without a
struggle. Countless millions of seeds and plants are doomed each year
to death and failure, but all honor to them--they put up a fight to the
very end! Resignation is a cheap and indolent human virtue, which has
served as an excuse for much spiritual slothfulness. It is still
highly revered and commended. It is so much easier sometimes to sit
down and be resigned than to rise up and be indignant.

Years ago people broke every law of sanitation and when plagues came
they were resigned and piously looked heavenward, and blamed God for
the whole thing. "Thy will be done," they said, and now we know it was
not God's will at all. It is never God's will that any should perish!
People were resigned when they should have been cleaning up! "Thy will
be done!" should ever be the prayer of our hearts, but it does not let
us out of any responsibility. It is not a weak acceptance of
misfortune, or sickness, or injustice or wrong, for these things are
not God's will.