"MARTHA, Martha," said the Lord Jesus to the kindly soul striving her utmost to be the perfect hostess, "thou art careful and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful . . ."We know that Jesus was commending Mary's contemplation of the things that really matter. But here one anticipates widespread protests from conscientious mothers, housewives and breadwinners. "What is going to happen if I sit down and meditate instead of getting on with the work? It is all right if one lives alone. I should just love to be alone for a few days and leave everything." In some measure the protesters are justified. There is an answer, however. Wives and mothers deliberately made the choice of running a home and family. "Such shall have trouble in the flesh", says Paul, and the household routine largely constitutes that trouble. The man or woman who goes out to work has trouble of another sort. no less than the one who stays at home. "Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening." Work is God's ordinance, and a wise one for the human race. But pre-possession with work, or with anything, for that matter, is what must be avoided. . . Having the necessities of life (and most of us have much more), let us be content. Shut down on meticulousness where it is not urgent. That will leave time for contemplation of the hills; or, in other words, for meditation on the vistas before us.

CATHERINE MORGAN, Think on These Things, pages 25-26