The Necklace

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  “SHE WAS one of those pretty, charming young ladies, born, as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, appreciated, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished; and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. . . .  She had neither frocks nor jewels, nothing. And she loved only those things. She felt that she was made for them. She had such a desire to please, to be sought after, to be clever, and courted.” —THE NECKLACE Guy de Maupassant    France, 1884 (pic by Grok) Read this short story here:  https://americanliterature.com/author/guy-de-maupassant/short-story/the-necklace

Of Thankfulness to God

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[by John Gill (1697-1771): Baptist minister, theologian, and biblical scholar. Author of A Body of Divinity, The Cause of God and Truth, and his nine-volume Expositions of the Old and New Testaments. Visit the John Gill Archive.]

Thankfulness follows contentment: a discontented man is not thankful for anything, but a contented man is thankful for everything. Thankfulness is a branch of godliness: none but a godly man is truly a thankful man. There are some things not to be named among saints and are not becoming them; but this is, and rather becoming them than many other things (Eph 5:3, 4).

An unthankful saint is a very odd sound, if not a contradiction. “Unthankful, unholy,” are characters joined together and agree (2Ti 3:2) and [likewise] “unthankful” and “evil” (Luk 6:36).

And particularly none but an holy man can give thanks “at the remembrance of the holiness of God” (Psa 97:12).

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