Did you ever hear, children, of the great balloon called Happiness, that God sends us to lift us up over all our sorrows and difficulties and fears? It is not like this balloon I hold in my hand, for you can see this and you cannot see that; but we will let this one stand for it.
Once there was a man who thought he was having a very hard time in the world. He was poor, he thought, though he really was comfortably off. He feared dreadful things for the future, though no dreadful things had ever yet come to him. He distrusted his friends, and imagined himself surrounded by foes. His whole life, indeed, was as if it was hemmed in by great rocks and briars and other harsh things that he could not get over.
And so God sent him this great happiness balloon. Indeed, he offers it to every one of us in this blessed Bible. And what did this foolish man do? Just what I am doing now. He took one great worry, which was heavy as a stone, and tied it to the balloon, as I am tying this stone. He then took another worry, and another, and another, and another. Then he got into the car of the balloon, and expected it to fly away. Of course it did not stir. How could it, tied down to the very worries from which God had sent the balloon to carry him?
O, my children, let us trust God. He will take care of us. Let us stop worrying. Let us get into the balloon of happiness that he sets down beside each one of us. Let us cut the cords that have tied any foolish worries to it, just as I am now cutting these strings, and we shall fly away up over all our doubts and fears and troubles, just as you see our balloon flying toward the sky.