The LORD will . . . satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land. . . . You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Travelers are enthusiastic over a species of palm tree which grows in South America. They call it the rain tree. This tree has the remarkable power of attracting, in a wondrous degree, atmospheric moisture, which it condenses and drops on the earth in refreshing dew. It grows straight up in the parched and arid desert and daily distributes its refreshing showers, with the result that around it an oasis of luxuriant vegetation soon springs up.

The floodgates of heaven refuse to open, the fountains cease to flow, the rivers evaporate —all true, but the rain tree, getting its moisture from above, renews the garden which it has created about its base, and gives the weary traveler shade and fruit, a new life and a delightful rest!

God would have us to be like the rain tree growing alongside the desert highways of the world—sources of new spiritual life. God Himself is our atmosphere, and we carry our atmosphere with us wherever we go.

This atmosphere is proof against all infection, and to breathe it is constant health.

Christ’s power was in His separateness. He did not withdraw Himself from the world but lived in the very midst of it. No man ever came into such close external contact with the devil. Jesus was not a recluse. He was social—mingling with men, yet He kept intact His separateness from the world. He was Jesus! Men felt this! This was His power!

In the secret of Christ’s power, we see the secret of our power. If we are to have any power in the world we must become partakers of His holiness; we must be separated with Him and be kept separated and set apart to the same great life.

The angel, grateful for each borrowed sense, Gazed at the sight: A girl so white, With slender fingers tense Upon the table edge (around his head The smell of new-baked bread) The while unhurried tones fell low, and clear, And near.

Alone, yet not alone, yet not alone, She fell not prone; But leaning a little against the wall, The while the sun grew late, She knew . . . she knew . . . she knew—why all Her life she had been separate.

“THE ANNUNCIATION” BY FLORENCE G. MAGEE

“To reveal his Son in me” (Galatians 1:16).