December 24

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. — Col 1:12

The souls most precious to us here
May from this home have fled;
But still we make one household dear;
One Lord is still our head.
Midst cherubim and seraphim
They mind their Lord’s affairs;
Oh! if we bring our work to Him
Our work is one with theirs.
—T. H. GILL.

We are apt to feel as if nothing we could do on earth bears a relation to what the good are doing in a higher world; but it is not so. Heaven and earth are not so far apart. Every disinterested act, every sacrifice to duty, every exertion for the good of “one of the least of Christ’s brethren,” every new insight into God’s works, every new impulse given to the love of truth and goodness, associates us with the departed, brings us nearer to them, and is as truly heavenly as if we were acting, not on earth, but in heaven. The spiritual tie between us and the departed is not felt as it should be. Our union with them daily grows stronger, if we daily make progress in what they are growing in.
—WM. E. CHANNING.