The boy watched his father cutting an expensive furnace tile. "Let me try that," he said.

"No," said the father, "a wrong cut will ruin the expensive tile."

"Then I'll watch." He saw his father draw the line in black chalk, place the chisel carefully on the line and repeatedly tap his blows. First lightly, as he circled the tile slowly, and then heavier blows were made.

"It looks to me," said the boy, "like you are getting nowhere. You haven't begun to cut through."

"Watch," said the father. After a number of blows carefully repeated, the father gave one hard blow and the tile separated with a perfect cut.

"Why didn't you hit it that hard in the first place?" asked the boy.

"It would have ruined the tile and made it worthless," said the father. "All those earlier blows set the pattern for the final one."

There are many things in life that seem repetitious and sometimes worthless but they set the stage for the truly important decisions in life. The drinking habits of Gideon's army determined which ones were chosen for battle.

Our habits of regular worship, of daily cleanliness and friendly enthusiams, of genuine kindness may provide many seemingly unimportant experiences, but they lead along the pathway to true greatness. The development of the human soul in sincere faith and loving kindness is important all through life and the Heavenly Father knows our times of sorrow and our times of joy and rejoices in the growth of each human soul.