holiness, for that is His own beauty; and though
we never can be quite like Him till we see Him as He is, He can begin to
make us like Him even now. Look at a poor little colorless drop of water,
hanging weakly on a blade of grass. It is not beautiful at all; why should
you stop to look at it? Stay till the sun has risen, and now look. It is
sparkling like a diamond; and if you look at it from another side, it will
be glowing like a ruby, and presently gleaming like an emerald. The poor
little drop has become one of the brightest and loveliest things you ever
saw. But is it its own brightness and beauty? No; if it slipped down to
the ground out of the sunshine, it would be only a poor little dirty drop
of water. So, if the Sun of Righteousness, the glorious and lovely
Saviour, shines upon you, a little ray of His own brightness and beauty
will be seen upon you. Sometimes we can see by the happy light on a face
that the Sun is shining there; but if the Sun is really shining, there are
sure to be some of the beautiful rays of holiness, love, joy, peace,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, making the life even of a little
child very lovely.

"Jesus, Lord, I come to Thee,
Thou hast said I may;
Tell me what my life should be,
Take my sins away.

"Jesus, Lord, I learn of Thee,
In Thy word divine;
Every promise there I see,
May I call it mine!"

11. Eleventh Day.

Pleasant Gifts.

"Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy."--I Tim. vi. 17.

Think a little this morning of God's great kindness to you. How _very_
good He is to you! I know one of His dear children who looks up many, many
times a day, and says, "_Good_ Lord Jesus!" or "_Kind_ Lord Jesus!" She
does not set herself to say it, but it seems as if she could not help
saying it, just because He _is_ so good and kind. And then it seems only
natural to look up again and say, "_Dear_ Lord Jesus!" How _can_ anybody
go on all day long, and never see how good He is, and never look up and
bless Him? Most especially on bright pleasant days, when He giveth us
more even than usual to enjoy! "He giveth." Not one single pleasant thing,
not one single bit of enjoyment comes to us but what He giveth. We can not
get it, we do not earn it, we do not deserve it; but He _giveth_ lovingly,
and kindly, and freely. Suppose He stopped giving, what would become of
us?

"Richly." So richly, that if you tried to write down half H