HOW very happy these dear children seem! What a lot of them there are, too; can you count the number?
This is an old elm tree that they are in; it has been split open by lightning, or by the wind in a storm at some time. Now the children can climb up into the hollow places and make a fine nest for themselves.
What makes these children so happy? Isn’t it because they are having a good time in a way that is not displeasing to their parents?
It is so good to see little folks happy, because they know that they are doing what is right.
Whom do you wish to please besides your parents and teachers? If you know Jesus as your own Saviour, He is the main One, I am sure. Did any child ever make fun of you for not doing just as he did, because you wanted to please your Lord? Boys and girls that are faithful to Jesus, are sure to have this experience at some time. But we are told in the Bible that we ought to be happy even at such times.
The Lord will protect you from harm, even though some boys or girls may become very angry with you, and threaten to harm you for not joining them in some things they do, that you think is not right in the sight of God.
We read in the Old Testament of three boys who would not do evil, as the people around them were doing, and so they were thrown into a terribly hot furnace. They suffered all this because they really loved the Lord; and what an awful thing it was to be thrown into such a place. What happened to them? It was a wonderful thing, God brought them out of it without a hair of their heads being scorched, nor even the smell of fire on their clothes.
God who could do such a marvelous thing for those boys, is surely just as able to care for you, and to give you courage to do what is right and good in His sight —even though all the other children may laugh at you for it.
ML 08/13/1933