the peace of Christ in our
heart. This is one of the problems of Christian living,--not to live
without cares, which is impossible, but to keep quiet and sweet in the
midst of the most cumbering care.

At the second mention of the Bethany home there is sore distress in it.
A beloved one is very sick, sick unto death. Few homes are entire
strangers to the experience of those days when the sufferer lay in the
burning fever. Love ministered and prayed and waited. Jesus was far
away, but word was sent to him. He came at length, but seemed to have
come too late. "If thou hadst been here!" the sisters said, each
separately, when they met the Master. But we see now the finished
providence, not the mere fragment of it which the sisters saw; and we
know he came at the right time. He comforted the mourners, and then he
blotted out the sorrow, bringing back joy to the home.[1]

The third picture of this home shows us a festal scene. A dinner was
given in honor of Jesus. It was only a few days before his death.
Here, again, the sisters appear, each true to her own character.
Martha is serving, as she always is; and again Mary is at Jesus' feet.
This time she is showing her wonderful love for the friend who has done
so much for her. The ointment she pours upon him is an emblem of her
heart's pure affection.

Mary's act was very beautiful. Love was the motive. Without love no
service, however great or costly, is of any value in heaven's sight.
The world may applaud, but angels turn away with indifference when love
is lacking. "If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor ... but have
not love, it profiteth me nothing." But love makes the smallest deed
radiant as angel ministry. We need not try doing things for Christ
until we love him. It would be like putting rootless rods in a
garden-bed, expecting them to grow into blossoming plants. Love must
be the root. It was easy for Mary to bring her alabaster box, for her
heart was full of overmastering love.

Service is the fruit of love. It is not all of its fruit. Character
is part too. If we love Christ, we will have Christ's beauty in our
soul. Mary grew wondrously gentle and lovely as Christ's words entered
her heart. Friendship with Christ makes us like Christ. But there
will be service too. Love is like light, it cannot be hid. It cannot
be shut up in the heart. It will not be imprisoned and restrained. It
will live and speak and act. Love in the heart