Jesus … said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10.

The gifts of God are on every hand, and all His gifts come to us through the merit of Jesus, whom He gave to the world. The apostle Paul breaks forth in an exclamation of gratitude, saying, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” And with Christ God has given us all things. The opening bud, the blooming flowers in their variety and loveliness, delightful to the senses, are the work of the Master Artist’s expressions of His love toward us…. The Lord has taken great care that everything should be grateful and pleasant to us, and yet how much greater effort He has made to provide us with that gift whereby we may perfect a Christian character, after the pattern of Christ.

Through the flowers of the field God would call our attention to the loveliness of Christlike character…. God is a lover of the beautiful. He desires that we shall consider the lovely flowers of the valley, and learn lessons of trust in Him. They are to be our teachers…. The Lord takes care of the flowers of the field, and clothes them with loveliness, and yet He has made it evident that He looks upon humanity as of greater value than the flowers for which He cares….

Suppose that our benevolent Father should grow weary with our ingratitude, and for a few weeks should withhold His innumerable bounties. Suppose He should become discouraged in seeing His treasures applied to selfish ends, in hearing no response of praise and gratitude for His unmerited mercies, and should forbid the sun to shine, the dew to fall, the earth to yield her increase. What a sensation would be created! What dismay would fall upon the world! What a cry would be raised as to what we should do to supply our tables with food and our bodies with clothing! …

God has not only supplied us with temporal benefits, but has provided for our eternal welfare; “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” … Oh, if we did but know the gift of God, if we did but appreciate what this gift of God means to us, we would have been earnestly seeking for it with unwavering perseverance.—Signs of the Times, June 19, 1893.