OD, as we open our windows to the sun and air, GOD would fill it with
that calm, sweet joy which elevates the soul, prevents it feeling the
weight of troubles, and makes it overflow with benevolence.

But joy does not mean levity, witty sayings, or repartee ... it is
habitual serenity.

Through a clear atmosphere we can always see the sky; it seems so light
and full of elasticity.

A serene sky is always pure ... clouds may pass across it, but they do not
stain it.

So it is with the heart that early in the morning opens to receive GOD'S
Peace.

XXXVII.

"You are never out of temper," was once said to a woman well known to be
much tried at home; "is it that you do not feel the injustice, the
annoyances?"--"I feel them as much as you do," she replied; "but they do
not hurt me."--"You have, then, some special balm?"--"Yes; for the
vexations caused by people, I have _affection_; for those of circumstances,
I have prayer; and over every wound that bleeds, I murmur the words, 'Thy
Will be done.'"

XXXVIII.

MY DAILY CROSS

If I have no cross to bear to-day, I shall not advance heavenwards.

A cross (that is, anything that disturbs our peace) is the spur which
stimulates, and without which we should most likely remain stationary,
blinded with empty vanities, and sinking deeper into sin.

A cross helps us onwards, in spite of our apathy and resistance.

To lie quietly on a bed of down may seem a very sweet existence, but
pleasant ease and rest are not the lot of a Christian; if he would mount
higher and higher, it must be by a rough road.

Alas, for those who have no daily cross!

Alas, for those who repine and fret against it!

* * * * *

WHAT WILL BE MY CROSS TO-DAY?

Perhaps that person, with whom Providence has placed me, and whom I
dislike, whose look of disdain humiliates me, whose slowness worries me,
who makes me jealous by being more beloved, more successful, than myself,
whose chatter and lightheartedness, even her very attentions to myself,
annoy me.

Or it may be that person that I think has quarrelled with me, and my
imagination makes me fancy myself watched, criticised, turned into
ridicule.

She is always with me; all my efforts to separate are frustrated; by some
mysterious power she is always present, always near.

* * * * *

This is my heaviest cross; the rest are light in comparison.

Circumstances change, temptat