Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them" (1 Tim. 4:15).

Just outside my window stretches a high voltage wire which carries electricity for light and power. It is carefully insulated at every pole that supports it, and it is carried well out of common reach. If I could lean far enough out to touch it, death would be as swift as the lightning stroke. Yet the birds light on it and are not harmed. The secret is that when they touch the high-powered wire they touch nothing else. They give themselves wholly to it. My danger would be that while I touched the wire I would also be touching the earth through the walls of my house and the current would turn my body into a channel for escape. So would God have us seek our safety in complete self-surrender to His power and love. It is when we reach one hand to Him, while keeping hold on some earthly thing with the other that we are in danger. "Caleb … hath wholly followed the Lord" (Deut. 1:36).

—C.G.

"For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come" (Song of Solomon 2:11,12).