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Parable of the Growing Seed
115
The work of parents and teachers is here suggested.... They
should aim so to cultivate the tendencies of the youth that at each
stage of their life they may represent the natural beauty appropriate
to the period, unfolding naturally, as do the plants in the garden.
The Beauty of Simplicity
Those children are most attractive who are natural and unaf-
fected. It is not wise to give children special notice and repeat their
clever sayings before them. Vanity should not be encouraged by
praising their looks, their words, or their actions. Nor should they be
dressed in an expensive or showy manner. This encourages pride in
them and awakens envy in the hearts of their companions. Teach the
children that the true adorning is not outward. “Whose adorning let
it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing
of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of
the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a
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meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
1
Peter 3:3, 4
....
The little ones should be educated in childlike simplicity. They
should be trained to be content with the small, helpful duties and the
pleasures and experiences natural to their years. Childhood answers
to the blade in the parable, and the blade has a beauty peculiarly its
own. The children should not be forced into a precocious maturity,
but should retain as long as possible the freshness and grace of their
early years.
The Garden of the Heart
The parable of the sower and the seed conveys a deep spiritual
lesson. The seed represents the principles sown in the heart, and
its growth the development of character. Make the teaching on this
point practical. The children can prepare the soil and sow the seed;
and as they work, the parent or teacher can explain to them the
garden of the heart, with the good or bad seed sown there; and that
as the garden must be prepared for the natural seed, so the heart
must be prepared for the seed of truth. As the plant grows, the