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Nature is Our Lesson Book, April 14
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 1:4
.
Some years ago, while rowing on Lake Goguac [in Michigan] with my hus-
band, we saw a beautiful lily, I asked my husband to get it for me, and to pluck it
with as long a stem as he could. He did so, and I examined it. In the stem was
a channel through which flowed the nourishment best suited to the development
of the lily. This nourishment it took, refusing the vileness with which it was
surrounded. It had a connection with the sand far below the surface, and from
there drew the sustenance which caused it to develop ... its loveliness.
Christ says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not,
neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these” (
Matthew 6:28, 29
). No artist can produce the
beautiful tints which God gives to the flowers. “Wherefore, if God so clothe the
grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” (
Verse 30
).
Nature is our lesson book. Christ used the objects of nature to impress truth
on the minds of His hearers.... “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we
eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?.... for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the
kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (
Verses 31-34
).
Let us do all we can to show our children that there is a heaven to win and a
hell to shun. Let us teach them to strive for everlasting life.... Bring your children
up in the admonition of the Lord, and you have fitted them to work in the church,
you have fitted them to go forth into missionary fields, you have fitted them to
shine in the courts of the Lord.
Parents, do not try to follow the ever-changing fashions of the degenerate age.
It does not pay. At the last day God will ask you, “What have you done with My
flock, My beautiful flock?” How will you answer Him if you have betrayed your
trust? For Christ’s sake I beseech of you to guard your children. Do not be cross
or hasty. Give them happy things to think of....
Strive with all the power God has given you to gain the crown of everlasting
life, that you may cast it at the feet of the Redeemer, and touching the golden harp,
fill all heaven with rich music.—
Manuscript 31, April 14, 1901
, “The Christian
Life.”
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