The Example of Christ
[
The Ministry of Healing, 51-58
(1905).]
The Saviour’s life on earth was a life of communion with nature
and with God. In this communion He revealed for us the secret of a
life of power.... Working at the carpenter’s bench, bearing the burdens
of home life, learning the lessons of obedience and toil, He found
recreation amidst the scenes of nature, gathering knowledge as He
sought to understand nature’s mysteries. He studied the word of God,
and His hours of greatest happiness were found when He could turn
aside from the scenes of His labors to go into the fields, to meditate in
the quiet valleys, to hold communion with God on the mountainside
or amid the trees of the forest. The early morning often found Him in
some secluded place, meditating, searching the Scriptures, or in prayer.
With the voice of singing He welcomed the morning light. With songs
of thanksgiving He cheered His hours and brought heaven’s gladness
to the toilworn and disheartened.
During His ministry Jesus lived to a great degree an outdoor life.
His journeys from place to place were made on foot, and much of
His teaching was given in the open air. In training His disciples
He often withdrew from the confusion of the city to the quiet of the
fields, as more in harmony with the lessons of simplicity, faith, and
self-abnegation He desired to teach them....
Christ loved to gather the people about Him under the blue heav-
[163]
ens, on some grassy hillside, or on the beach beside the lake. Here,
surrounded by the works of His own creation, He could turn their
thoughts from the artificial to the natural. In the growth and devel-
opment of nature were revealed the principles of His kingdom. As
men should lift their eyes to the hills of God and behold the wonderful
works of His hand, they could learn precious lessons of divine truth.
In future days the lessons of the divine Teacher would thus be repeated
to them by the things of nature. The mind would be uplifted and the
heart would find rest....
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