Recreation that Yields Enduring Satisfactions
389
students from fun and frolic which often carries them beyond the
dignity of manhood and womanhood to shame and disgrace. The
Lord would have the mind elevated, seeking higher, nobler channels
of usefulness
The same power of exercise of mind and muscle might invent ways
and means of altogether a higher class of exercise, in doing missionary
work which would make them laborers together with God, and would
be educating for higher usefulness in the present life, in doing useful
[510]
work, which is a most essential branch in education....
Is not this the work that every youth should be seeking to do,
working in Christ’s lines? You have Christ’s help. The ideas of the
students will broaden. They will be far reaching, and the powers of
usefulness, even in your student’s life, will be continually growing.
The arms, the hands, which God has given, are to be used in doing
good which shall bear the signet of heaven, that you can at last hear
the “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
A Prescription for Invalids—I have been instructed that as the
sick are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open
air, tending the flowers or doing some other light, pleasant work, their
minds will be called from self to something more health giving. Open-
air exercise should be prescribed as a beneficial, life-giving necessity
We can but be cheerful as we listen to the music of the happy birds
and feast our eyes upon flourishing fields and gardens. We should
invite our minds to be interested in all the glorious things God has
provided for us with a liberal hand. And in reflecting upon these rich
tokens of His love and care, we may forget infirmities, be cheerful,
and make melody in our hearts unto the Lord
For years I have from time to time been shown that the sick should
be taught that it is wrong to suspend all physical labor in order to regain
health. In thus doing the will becomes dormant, the blood moves
sluggishly through the system and constantly grows more impure.
Where the patient is in danger of imagining his case worse than it
really is, indolence will be sure to produce the most unhappy results.
[511]
Well-regulated labor gives the invalid the idea that he is not totally
13
Ibid., 98
.
14
Ibid., 98, 99
.
15
Medical Ministry, 234
.
16
The Health Reformer, July, 1871
.