Roll Day."

THE PERFECT LIFE
--Thanksgiving Day
--Perfection

The Love of God in Our Hearts May Be Perfect, Even Though Our Lives
Fall Short of Perfection.

THE LESSON--That if we "hunger and thirst after righteousness," as
did the Pilgrim Fathers, our lives, though imperfect, will be well
pleasing to the Father.

Many of us are discouraged because we cannot, or do not, attain to the
high ideal of life which we find before us. God's Word seems to bring
comfort to the disappointed one by showing him that if he earnestly
desires to attain to the highest ideal, his acts are well pleasing to
God, even though he falls short of his hopes. In using the Pilgrim
Fathers as an illustration, the talk is well fitted to the observance
of Thanksgiving Day, but it is also appropriate for many other
occasions.

~~The Talk.~~

"Any one of us who wants to find something beautiful about us, needs
only to take a good look. Here, for instance, we may see a tall,
straight tree. [Draw the tree, of Fig. 92.] And over here, nearer by,
we may find a rosebush in bloom. [Draw the bush and rose.] And here is
the sun shining in all its glory. [Draw the sun, using orange. Any
suitable color may be used for the rose. The trunk of the tree should
be in brown and the foliage in green. Draw the distant foliage,
completing Fig. 92.] And as we look upon these things we may think of
them as perfect in every way, because they are all God's handiwork.

[Illustration: Fig. 92]

"And yet--

"Let us take a closer look. We find that when the tree is cut down for
lumber it is marred by many imperfections, and that a great deal of it
has to be thrown away as useless. Somehow, we are a little bit
disappointed in the tree, for we thought it was perfect. As we turn to
the rose, we are reminded by a sharp pain in our fingers as we examine
it, that the stems are covered with ugly thorns. [Add the thorns.] And
then we notice, too, that many of the leaves on the bush are deformed
and unshapely. As we turn to look upon the sun, we are dazzled by its
brilliance, at first, and then we discover that even this brightness
is clouded by spots which seem to make it imperfect. Then too, as we
look away from it, we find that the sun, in its passage through the
sky not only brightens many a dark corner, but it casts many a deep,
gloomy shadow as well. [Draw the shadow of the tree, completing
Fig. 93.]

[Illustration: Fig. 93]

"Well, now, wouldn't it