In a certain old town was a great cathedral. And in that cathedral was a wondrous stained-glass window. Its fame had gone abroad over the land.

From miles around people pilgrimaged to gaze upon the splendor of this masterpiece of art. One day there came a great storm. The violence of the tempest forced in the window, and it crashed to the marble floor, shattered into a hundred pieces.

Great was the grief of the people at the catastrophe which had suddenly bereft the town of its proudest work of art. They gathered up the fragments, huddled them in a box, and carried them to the cellar of the church.

One day there came along a stranger and craved permission to see the beautiful window. They told him of its fate. He asked what they had done with the fragments; and they took him to the vault and showed him the broken morsels of glass.

“Would you mind giving these to me?” said the stranger. “Take them along,” was the reply, “they are no longer of any use to us.” The visitor carefully lifted the box and carried it away in his arms.

Weeks passed by; then one day came an invitation to the custodians of the cathedral. It was from a famous artist, noted for his master-skill in glass-craft. It summoned them to his study to inspect a stained-glass window, the work of his genius.

Ushering them into his studio he stood them before a great veil of canvas. At the touch of his hand upon a cord the canvas dropped. And there before their astonished gaze shone a stained-glass window surpassing in beauty all their eyes had ever beheld.

As they gazed entranced upon its rich tints, wondrous patterns, and cunning workmanship the artist turned and said: “This window I have wrought from the fragments of your shattered one, and it is now ready to be replaced.”

Once more a great window shed its beauteous light into the dim aisles of the old cathedral, but the splendor of the new far surpassed the glory of the old, and the fame of its strange fashioning filled the land.

Do you say that your plans have been crushed? Then know this: Jesus Christ is a matchless life-mender. Try Him! JAMES H. MCCONKEY