Even upon material works God has stamped the law of sympathetic service. It is written out in the clouds of the sky to seek to die in the service of rain. The little streams flee decaying self-content by emptying themselves into the vastness of the ocean. The mountains too are in service. They are like giant hands raised to catch and redistribute the moisture, sending it down across the plains in healthful and life-giving streams. Not a drop of water leads a selfish life; not a wind blast is without its mission. What God has imposed upon nature by law He intended we should impose upon ourselves in virtue of our free will. The waters and the clouds and the mountains and even the earth itself which spends itself in giving life to the seed -- all of these rebuke the man who refuses to live for his fellowman. In doing good, everything in God's universe gets good. Service of others is the highest service of self, and the best way for any man to grow in grace is to move forward in helpfulness. The mill wheel will cease to revolve when the waters of the rushing stream are cut off; the moving train stops when the glowing heat cools within the hidden chamber; and charity in this world will degenerate into mere professional schedules and statistical averages without inspiration, without power and without love as men forget the inspiration of Him Who said: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends' (Jn 15:13).
-Excerpt from Way to Happiness by Fulton Sheen
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