Those who have had the joy of climbing the Swiss mountains in springtime will have learned to love the Soldanella, with its delicate little mauve bells.

Many years ago there appeared a booklet by Lilias Trotter, “The Glory of the Impossible,” with a sketch of this little plant just above the snow.

We have never forgotten her exquisite application of the lesson, as she traced the power of this fragile plant to melt its way through the icy covering into the sunshine overhead.

We love to see the impossible done and so does God!

“Canst thou prevail To pierce the snow? Thou art so frail, And icy winds do blow!”

“I will lift up my head And trusting, onward go.”

“Now hard as rock Frozen and dry, Thy strength to mock, What profits it to try? The snow will bar thy way.”

“On God I will rely.”

“Thou art so weak, Tender and fair, Why not go, seek A balmier softer air?”

“God chose my lot for me, And will sustain me there.”

“Wilt thou keep on? Alas! the fight Is stern from dawn Till eve.” “’T is not by might The victory is won; God puts my foes to flight.”

And now above In blaze of day, Wonder of love, We see the flower and say, “Naught is impossible To him who trusts alway.”

“JUST TRUSTING” BY J. B. L.

The incense buds of the kiku (chrysanthemum) will open even in the frost. JAPANESE PROVERB

High in the snow- covered Alpine valleys, God works one of His miracles year after year. In spite of the extremes of sunny days and frozen nights, a flower blooms unblemished through the crust of ice near the edge of the snow. How does this little flower, known as the soldanelle plant, accomplish such a feat?

During the past summer the little plant spread its leaves wide and flat on the ground in order to soak up the sun’s rays, and it kept that energy stored in its roots throughout the winter. When spring came, life stirred even beneath its shroud of snow, and as the plant sprouted, it amazingly produced enough warmth to thaw a small dome-shaped pocket of snow above its head.

It grew higher and higher, and as it did, the small dome of air continued to rise just above its head until its flower bud was safely formed. At last the icy covering of the air compartment gave way, and the blossom burst into the sunshine. The crystalline texture of its mauve-colored petals sparkled like the snow itself, as if it still bore the marks of the journey it had endured.

This fragile flower sounds an echo in our hearts that none of the lovely flowers nestled in the warm grass of the lower slopes could ever awaken.

Oh, how we love to see impossible things accomplished! And so does God.

Therefore may we continue to persevere, for even if we took our circumstances and cast all the darkness of human doubt upon them and then hastily piled as many difficulties together as we could find against God’s divine work, we could never move beyond the blessedness of His miracle-working power.

May we place our faith completely in Him, for He is the God of the impossible.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

The promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

The just shall live by faith.—Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).—Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.—With God nothing shall be impossible.

And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.