We were nearing the end of what had been a very exhausting journey on a frosty morning, with the thermometer ranging about -25 °F. Already one of our little party had in a measure succumbed to the influences of the weather. We urged our horses on through a village, beyond which there remained some little distance still to travel on a road that by no means improved as we proceeded. Every one of us was already anticipating the moment when, beyond the piercing cold, the snow drifts, and all the other surroundings incidental to our onward way, we would reach our destination. There a hearty welcome was awaiting us from dear ones who, knowing we were on the way, had been thinking of us, and on the lookout for us from the early morning.
There was an unusual stir in the village as we passed through it, for our goal lay beyond, and we were greeted with the cry, "Your vote, please!" The one who hailed us thought that we were of the same intent as himself, that being the day of their election. The answer came simply enough in a shake of the head, and pointing forward as those who had their destination beyond, and who would take no part in the affairs of the village for the simple reason that we did not belong to it. We had no rights of citizenship to maintain in it; all our business was to press on in diligent haste until the journey was over.
There could be nothing congenial in our surroundings, nothing to tempt any one of us to settle down short of our destination.
As children of God, we can learn from this story that earthly cries raised, however loudly, have no meaning for our ears as we pass through as strangers and pilgrims in this world, because we are citizens of heaven. Let nothing tempt us to stop short of the goal, but-the "one thing" characterizing us: "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark [goal] for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13, 1413Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13‑14).
Young Christian