Many of us are discouraged because we cannot, or do not, attain to the high ideal of life which we find before us.  God’s Word seems to bring comfort to the disappointed one by showing him that if he earnestly desires to attain to the highest ideal, his acts are well pleasing to God, even though he falls short of his hopes.  In using the Pilgrim Fathers as an illustration, the talk is well fitted to the observance of Thanksgiving Day, but it is also appropriate for many other occasions.

The Talk.

“Any one of us who wants to find something beautiful about us, needs only to take a good look.  Here, for instance, we may see a tall, straight tree. [Draw the tree, of Fig. 92.] And over here, nearer by, we may find a rosebush in bloom. [Draw the bush and rose.] And here is the sun shining in all its glory. [Draw the sun, using orange.  Any suitable color may be used for the rose.  The trunk of the tree should be in brown and the foliage in green.  Draw the distant foliage, completing Fig. 92.] And as we look upon these things we may think of them as perfect in every way, because they are all God’s handiwork.

[Illustration:  Fig. 92]

“And yet—­

“Let us take a closer look.  We find that when the tree is cut down for lumber it is marred by many imperfections, and that a great deal of it has to be thrown away as useless.  Somehow, we are a little bit disappointed in the tree, for we thought it was perfect.  As we turn to the rose, we are reminded by a sharp pain in our fingers as we examine it, that the stems are covered with ugly thorns. [Add the thorns.] And then we notice, too, that many of the leaves on the bush are deformed and unshapely.  As we turn to look upon the sun, we are dazzled by its brilliance, at first, and then we discover that even this brightness is clouded by spots which seem to make it imperfect.  Then too, as we look away from it, we find that the sun, in its passage through the sky not only brightens many a dark corner, but it casts many a deep, gloomy shadow as well. [Draw the shadow of the tree, completing Fig. 93.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 93]

“Well, now, wouldn’t it be foolish for us to go about finding flaws in God’s creatures, like this?  Ah, yes.  But it is just this way that some of us study our own lives.  Just because we don’t find perfection there, we are disheartened and discouraged, forgetting that God’s Word is the authority for the assertion, that ’there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.’  But we must not forget that other assertion which is equally true, namely, that they are blessed ‘who hunger and thirst after righteousness,’ and nothing short of this desire for godliness is pleasing to the Father.