joy to Thee!

Yet the heart turns away
From this grand destiny of bliss, and deems
'Twas made for its poor self, for passing dreams,
Chasing illusions melting day by day,
Till for ourselves we read on this world's best,
'This is not rest!'

CHAPTER II.
Our Moments kept for Jesus.

_'Keep my moments and my days;_
_Let them flow in ceaseless praise.'_

It may be a little help to writer and reader if we consider some of the
practical details of the life which we desire to have 'kept for Jesus' in
the order of the little hymn at the beginning of this book, with the one
word 'take' changed to 'keep.' So we will take a couplet for each
chapter.

The first point that naturally comes up is that which is almost
synonymous with life--our time. And this brings us at once face to face
with one of our past difficulties, and its probable cause.

When we take a wide sweep, we are so apt to be vague. When we are aiming
at generalities we do not hit the practicalities. We forget that
faithfulness to principle is only proved by faithfulness in detail. Has
not this vagueness had something to do with the constant ineffectiveness
of our feeble desire that our time should be devoted to God?

In things spiritual, the greater does not always include the less, but,
paradoxically, the less more often includes the greater. So in this case,
time is entrusted to us to be traded with for our Lord. But we cannot
grasp it as a whole. We instinctively break it up ere we can deal with it
for any purpose. So when a new year comes round, we commit it with
special earnestness to the Lord. But as we do so, are we not conscious of
a feeling that even a year is too much for us to deal with? And does not
this feeling, that we are dealing with a larger thing than we can grasp,
take away from the sense of reality? Thus we are brought to a more
manageable measure; and as the Sunday mornings or the Monday mornings
come round, we thankfully commit the opening week to Him, and the sense
of help and rest is renewed and strengthened. But not even the six or
seven days are close enough to our hand; even to-morrow exceeds our tiny
grasp, and even to-morrow's grace is therefore not given to us. So we
find the need of considering our lives as a matter of day by day, and
that any more general committal and consecration of our time does not
meet the case