."

MAY 1.

"The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness" (Gal. v. 22).

Nature's harshness has melted away and she is now beaming with the smile
of spring, and everything around us whispers of the gentleness of God.
This beautiful fruit is in lovely harmony with the gentle month of which
it is the keynote. May the Holy Spirit lead us, beloved, these days, into
His sweetness, quietness, and gentleness, subduing every coarse, rude,
harsh, and unholy habit, and making us like Him, of whom it is said, "He
shall not strive, nor cry, nor cause His voice to be heard in the
streets."

The man who is truly filled with Jesus will always be a gentleman. The
woman who is baptized of the Holy Ghost, will have the instincts of a
perfect lady, although low born and little bred in the schools of earthly
refinement. Beloved, let us receive and reflect the gentleness of Christ,
the spirit of the holy babe, until the world will say of us, as the
polished and infidel Chesterfield once said of the saintly Fenelon, "If I
had remained in his house another day, I should have had to become a
Christian."

Lord, help us to-day, to so yield to the gentle Dove-Spirit, that our
lives shall be as His life.

MAY 2.

"Always causeth us to triumph" (II. Cor. ii. 14).

How these words help us. Think of them when the people rasp you, when the
devil pricks you with his fiery darts, when your sensitive, self-willed
spirit chafes or frets; let a gentle voice be heard above the strife,
whispering, "Keep sweet, keep sweet!" And, if you will but heed it
quickly, you will be saved from a thousand falls and kept in perfect
peace.

True, you cannot keep yourself sweet, but God will keep you if He sees
that it is your fixed, determined purpose to be kept sweet, and to refuse
to fret or grudge or retaliate. The trouble is, you rather enjoy a little
irritation and morbidness. You want to cherish the little grudge, and
sympathize with your hurt feelings, and nurse your little grievance.

Dear friends, God will give you all the love you really want and honestly
choose. You can have your grievance or you can have the peace that passeth
all understanding; but you cannot have both.

There is a balm for a thousand heartaches, and a heaven of peace and power
in these two little words--KEEP SWEET.

MAY 3.

"My peace I give unto you" (John xiv. 27).

Here lies the secret of abiding peace--God's peace. We give ourselves to
God and th