We would be better Christians if we spent more time alone, and we would actually accomplish more if we attempted less and spent more time in isolation and quiet waiting upon God.

The world has become too much a part of us, and we are afflicted with the idea that we are not accomplishing anything unless we are always busily running back and forth.

We no longer believe in the importance of a calm retreat where we sit silently in the shade.

As the people of God, we have become entirely too practical.

We believe in having “all our irons in the fire” and that all the time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time.

Yet our time is never more profitably spent than when we set aside time for quiet meditation, talking with God, and looking up to heaven.

We can never have too many of these open spaces in life—hours set aside when our soul is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send our way.

Someone once said, “Meditation is the Sunday of the mind.”

In these hectic days, we should often give our mind a “Sunday,” a time in which it will do no work but instead will simply be still, look heavenward, and spread itself before the Lord like Gideon’s fleece, allowing itself to be soaked with the moisture of the dew of heaven.

We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing but simply lie on the green lap of nature and “rest a while” (Mark 6:31 KJV).

Time spent in this way is not lost time.

A fisherman does not say he is losing time when he is mending his nets, nor does a gardener feel he has wasted his time by taking a few minutes to sharpen the blades on his mower.

And people living in cities today would do well to follow the example of Isaac and as often as possible visit the fields of the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

After having grown weary from the heat and noise of the city, communion with nature is very refreshing and will bring a calming, healing influence.

A walk through a field, a stroll by a seashore, or a hike across a meadow sprinkled with daisies will purge you of the impurities of life and will cause your heart to beat with new joy and hope.

The little cares that worried me, I lost them yesterday, Out in the fields with God.

A poem for Christmas Eve:

BELLS ACROSS THE SNOW

O Christmas, merry Christmas, Has it really come again, With its memories and greetings, With its joy and with its pain!

Minor chords are in the carol And a shadow in the light, And a spray of cypress twining With the holly wreath tonight.

And the hush is never broken By laughter light and low, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.”

O Christmas, merry Christmas, It’s not so very long Since other voices blended With the carol and the song!

If we could but hear them singing, As they are singing now, If we could but see the radiance Of the crown on each dear brow,

There would be no cry to cover, No hidden tear to flow, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.”

O Christmas, merry Christmas, This nevermore can be; We cannot bring again the days Of our unshadowed glee,

But Christmas, happy Christmas, Sweet herald of goodwill, With holy songs of glory Brings holy gladness still.

For peace and hope may brighten, And patient love may glow, As we listen in the starlight To the “bells across the snow.”

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord , my strength, and my redeemer.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?—The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord ; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.—This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.—My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.