'A sweetbrier life

A sweetbrier life

One writes of a sweetbrier life . A little group of girls were together one rainy afternoon. One of them said to the others, "Do you smell the sweetbrier down by the gate? It is always fragrant — but never so fragrant as in the rain."

One of the girls said impulsively that this reminded her of her godly aunt. When asked to explain, she said, "Why, you see, there are ever so many roses that are fragrant — the roses themselves, I mean — but the sweetbrier is the only one whose leaves also are fragrant.

That is why it makes me think of my aunt, because everything about her, everything she does, not the large things only — but all the common, every-day things — the leaves as well as the blossoms — have something beautiful in them.

There is something in her spirit, a gentleness, a thoughtfulness, a kindliness, a graciousness — which goes out in everything she does, in every word she speaks, in every influence that breathes from her life."

Just so, the first thing the love of Christ does when He saves a person, is to sweeten all the life, the disposition, the spirit, the temper, the manners.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

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