CAROL liked to put pennies in candy and gum ball machines. She also liked to collect the charms that came out. She put the charms on a string, and made a bracelet out of them. After several months she had about fifty charms. She was very proud of them.
One day Carol left her charm bracelet in her desk at school, and went out for recess. When she came back to her class, she found her charms were gone. Someone had stolen them during recess, and the thief was never found. The teacher told the class that if anyone had stolen the bracelet they should return it, but no one did.
Carol shed many tears when she got home, and told Mother the whole story. Mother sympathized with her; but she said: “Carol, perhaps you were holding something of this world too tightly. Sometimes the Lord will take a thing away from us if we think too much of it. Then too, as the Christian grows older, the Lord wants to have the first place in our hearts. If we let the things of this world come in and rob our enjoyment of Him, then He may have to take those things away from us. A little poem says,
“Let me hold lightly things of this earth,
All of its pleasures, what are they worth?
Let me hold Tightly things that are Thine,
And all Thy love, Lord, may it be mine.”
The Lord Jesus wants to have the first place in your heart, dear young friend. The reason why many Christians are not happy is because their hearts are set on things of this world things which can never satisfy, rather than on the One who loves there and has died for them. The secret of true happiness is to know Christ as one’s Saviour, to walk and talk with Him as a very dear Friend. The enjoyment of Christ in our hearts will separate us from this world which does not want Him, but it will give us a peace and happiness the world cannot give, and which it knows nothing about.
ML-03/08/1970