The Right Places for the Right Purposes

We cannot reasonably expect constantly increasing excitement, or an evermore spectacular entertainment. Much of life is simple routine, made up of doing day to day the things that must be done, and simply being alive and living. Students sometimes absent themselves from class, saying that it’s dull, or it’s “the same old thing” each day. In a sense this may be so, but repetition is part of the learning process, and even though there isn’t always a new and challenging subject there is something in the classroom that makes it worth while. Even when the textbook covers the same topic, the point of view of the teacher, the reaction of the group, the questions, the discussion, just being in the atmosphere of interest and information is all-important, and the person so exposed receives for which there is no real substitute, even if there isn’t a new and startling idea every hour. Likewise, there are those who say they don’t go to church because it is repetitious, because the sermons are the same, because they can get as much or more somewhere else, reading or thinking, the highlights of life are not always and everywhere in evidence. But there is a spirit, an attitude and atmosphere in particular places for particular purposes, and we tend to take on what is around us. We pick up from our surroundings, and it is good to be where there are constructive and uplifting things going on. When we are in the right places for the right purposes, the right things are likely to result. And so to those who say I won’t go to some desirable place because it will be the same old thing, the answer is that much of it may be, but some of it may have special significance, and in any case, being where we ought to be when we ought to be there is a great safeguard and satisfaction.