Searching the Web for JR Miller DD, one comes across a lot of incomplete references. a poem or a short bit of text. Often the reference is at the bottom of a longer collection of inspirational paragraphs, and how much is attributable to Miller is debatable.
It will take some time before I can clear up these mysteries,
Source: www.tagnet.org/masabatha/story5.html
In the Highlands of Scotland there lived a godly woman. Early in her married life her husband was taken from her by death, and she was left with only a wee daughter to solace and comfort her. Tenderly she watched over the growth of the child until she reached winsome maidenhood. But, alas! in spite of the loving care bestowed upon her, the girl yielded more and more to the allurements of the world, finally leaving her simple home for a life of sin in a great city. Sorrowfully the widowed mother waited to hear from her, but no word came from the absent one. Still, day and night her prayers ascended for the return of her wandering child. The years went slowly by, and then one dark night at midnight faltering footsteps came up the narrow pathway leading to the cottage. They paused at the lowly door and tremblingly the latch was lifted and a slight form slipped into the warm darkness within.
Awakening from a light slumber, the mother sprang from her bed to enfold to her heart her long-lost daughter. After the first joy of reunion had subsided, with their arms still clinging around each other, the girl asked: “Mother, why was the door unlocked at midnight, tonight?”
Caressing her daughter’s dark hair the mother replied: “My darling, never since you went away has the door been locked by day or night. I prayed God to bring you home, and I left the door always unfastened that whenever you might come you would know you were welcome and might enter at once.”
Dr. J. R. Miller, commenting on this touching little story, says:
“So it is with Christ, the ‘door’ of God’s love. This is a door that is easily opened; it is never locked. Christ loves to admit lost ones to His Father’s blessedness.”
By Leonora Lacey Warriner, Signs of the Times, December 12, 1944
Stories Twice-Told ........ Compiled by: A.C.Frey
Even the Leaves are Fragrant
A group of girls were together one rainy afternoon. One of them opened the door for a moment, and a wave of the smell of wet, green, growling things poured into the room. The girl at the door turned and said to the others, `Do you smell the sweet-briar down by the gate? It is always fragrant, but never so fragrant as in the rain.' One of the girls said impulsively that this reminded her of her aunt. When asked to explain, she said: `Why, you see, there are ever so many roses that are fragrant -- the roses themselves I mean -- but the sweet-briar is the only one whose leaves also are fragrant. That is why it makes me think of my aunt, because everything about her, everything she does, not the large things only, but all the common everyday things, the leaves as well as the blossoms, have something beautiful in them.'
Dr. J. R. Miller, `Cyclopedia of Religious Anecdotes', page 167
Just a Short Way to Go Together
`Why didn't you tell her she was taking more than her share of room and encroaching upon your rights?' some one asked of a young girl who was merrily describing an old woman who had taken a seat beside her in a crowded railway car, and crammed into the small space a bird-cage, a basket of apples, and bundles numerous and varied. `It wasn't worth while to trouble about it; we had such a little way to go together,' was the reply. What a motto that would be for a life-journey! So many little annoyances are not worth noticing, so many small unkindnesses even may be passed by silently because we have `such a little way to go together.'
J. R. Miller, In the Record of Christian Work. `Cyclopedia of Religious Anecdotes' -- page 88
The photographer takes his sensitive plate into a dark place to develop his picture. Sunlight would mar it. God often draws the curtain upon us, and in the darkness brings out some rare beauty in our life, some delicate feature of his own loveliness.
J. R. Miller. `5000 Best Modern Illustrations' -- page 705
Dr. J. R. Miller relates a story of some children alone during a thunderstorm; each gave a favorite Scripture verse. One of the children chose, `The Lord of glory thundereth,' and when she was asked why she gave these words, she said, `Once I heard a great noise when I thought I was alone in the house, and I was so frightened that I screamed with terror. My father was near, and he called, `Don't be frightened, Margie; it is only father.' Now when it thunders, and I begin to be afraid, God seems to say to me, `Don't be frightened, Margie, it's only father,' and all my fears vanish.'
`5000 Best Modern Illustrations' -- page 309 (2027)
Many of us find life hard and full of pain. The world uses us roughly. We suffer wrongs and injuries. Other people's clumsy feet tread upon our tender spirits. We cannot avoid these things, but we should not allow the harsh experiences to deaden our sensibilities, or make us stoical or sour. The true problem of living is to keep our hearts sweet and gentle in the hardest conditions and experiences. If you remove the snow from the hillside in the late winter, you will find sweet flowers growing there, beneath the cold drifts, unhurt by the storm and by the snowy blankets that have covered them. So should we keep our hearts tender and sensitive beneath life's fiercest winter blasts and through the longest years of suffering and even of injustice and wrong treatment. That is true, victorious living.
J.R. Miller. `5000 Best Modern Illustrations' page 705 (4852)
Very similar to June 15 - In Green Pastures, but slightly different.
Source http://www.heraldmag.org/olb/contents/devotions/TwiceFrey.html
the official publication of the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions.
Entries
(untitled poem) Feb 1900: page 326
(Prayer) Aug 1906:page 106
Each day a miniature life. Jul 1912: page 83
Source: http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/mt/mtindxm2.htm
source: http://www.zeitun-eg.org/bibleidx.htm
source: http://www.uniondepot.org/BiblePage/tools.htm
The world does not read the Bible nor come to church to hear the minister. All it learns about Christ and Christian life it must learn from those who bear Christ’s name and represent him. If all church-members lived truly consecrated lives — holy, beautiful, separate from the world, loyal to Christ in business, in pleasure, in all things — it is impossible to estimate what the saving power of the Church would be in example alone. it is an awful thought that professing Christians, by the inconsistencies of their personal lives, lead souls to reject the Saviour. We are all responsible for the influence of our example. Our lives should be New Testament pages that all could read.”
Problem Solved: This is the July 9th sermon in the book Bits of Pasture later called In Green Pastures
http://www.maranathamedia.com.au/Download/Books/Alone_With_God-Andross.pdf
By
1917
“This sacred shade and solitude, what is it? It is the felt presence of the Deity. Few are the faults we flatter when alone.” “There is no better fitting for service than secret communion with the Divine.”
Pacific Press, Mountain View, California
Scanned and Edited by Paul Nethercott for Maranatha Media www.maranathamedia.com.au
4. Jesus and I Are Friends
The late J. R. Miller had been lecturing in Paris. After one of the evening services, a man came to him, and said: “Dr. Miller, I have forgotten almost everything you said except this one sentence: To me, religion means just one thing: Jesus and I are friends.” J. R. Miller's life, pressed full of untiring service, was a beautiful demonstration of the transforming influence of Jesus upon the lives of those who love Him, of those who can say, “Jesus and I are friends.”
8. The Morning Hour
The beautiful life of the late J. R. Miller emphasizes the importance of heeding the suggestion he gives in the following lines: “Seek the clasp of Christ's hand before every bit of work, every hard task, every battle, every good deed. Bend your head in the dewy freshness of every morning, ere you go forth to meet the day's duties and perils, and wait for the benediction of Christ, as He lays His hands upon you. They are hands of blessing. Their touch will inspire you for courage, and strength, and all beautiful and noble living.”