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Education
Psalm 145:16
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The eagle of the Alps is sometimes beaten down by the tempest
into the narrow defiles of the mountains. Storm clouds shut in this
mighty bird of the forest, their dark masses separating her from the
sunny heights where she has made her home. Her efforts to escape
seem fruitless. She dashes to and fro, beating the air with her strong
wings, and waking the mountain echoes with her cries. At length,
with a note of triumph, she darts upward, and, piercing the clouds,
is once more in the clear sunlight, with the darkness and tempest far
beneath. So we may be surrounded with difficulties, discouragement,
and darkness. Falsehood, calamity, injustice, shut us in. There are
clouds that we cannot dispel. We battle with circumstances in vain.
There is one, and but one, way of escape. The mists and fogs cling to
the earth; beyond the clouds God’s light is shining. Into the sunlight
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of His presence we may rise on the wings of faith.
Many are the lessons that may thus be learned. Self-reliance, from
the tree that, growing alone on plain or mountainside, strikes down its
roots deep into the earth, and in its rugged strength defies the tempest.
The power of early influence, from the gnarled, shapeless trunk, bent
as a sapling, to which no earthly power can afterward restore its lost
symmetry. The secret of a holy life, from the water lily, that, on the
bosom of some slimy pool, surrounded by weeds and rubbish, strikes
down its channeled stem to the pure sands beneath, and, drawing
thence its life, lifts up its fragrant blossoms to the light in spotless
purity.
Thus while the children and youth gain a knowledge of facts from
teachers and textbooks, let them learn to draw lessons and discern truth
for themselves. In their gardening, question them as to what they learn
from the care of their plants. As they look on a beautiful landscape,
ask them why God clothed the fields and woods with such lovely and
varied hues. Why was not all colored a somber brown? When they
gather the flowers, lead them to think why He spared us the beauty
of these wanderers from Eden. Teach them to notice the evidences
everywhere manifest in nature of God’s thought for us, the wonderful
adaptation of all things to our need and happiness.
He alone who recognizes in nature his Father’s handiwork, who in
the richness and beauty of the earth reads the Father’s handwriting—