WHAT ARE these children doing? They look very happy as they march along holding each other’s hands. Perhaps the flock of geese has strayed away and the children are trying to drive them home again. They don’t pay any attention to the geese behind them, because the rest of the flock follow the leaders wherever they go. The children, lined up as they are, have the leaders so well guarded that they cannot get away, so the whole flock is safe, and going in the right direction.
This picture seems to teach us four lessons:
First, the children are all working together. If they dropped hands and each one tried to drive a different goose, they might not be able to get any of the geese to go the right way. If Mamma gives us some work to do together and we each want to do it a different way, we cannot get the work done either soon or well.
God says,
You know how we each have a body and how our eyes, ears, arms, hands and feet work together and help each other. When our eyes see something we want, our hands reach out and take it. When our hands want to take something that is beyond our reach, our feet take us to the place. The hands and feet don’t quarrel with each other. Our feet don’t take us down to the cellar when we want to go upstairs or down town. Our hands do not throw away the bread and meat when our stomachs are calling for food.
Just as our hands, ears, mouth, etc., are members of our natural body, so Christians are members of the body of Christ. And Christians ought to help each other and work together just as the hands and feet do. God desires this, and there is always trouble when they don’t agree. But when they are “of the same mind,” they will have bright, happy faces like the children in the picture.
The second lesson is to “have compassion one of another.”
The little boy at the end of the line has fallen down. Will the others go on and leave him to help himself? No! They will help him up and all go on together. So God wants us to feel sorry for those who get into trouble and help them all we can.
The third lesson is to follow our guide. The rest of the geese in the picture are following the leaders. Christ is our leader. He has been through this world and knows all about it. He knows where the rough and dangerous places are. Now He is leading us through the same wilderness through which He journeyed nearly two thousand years ago. He can take us safely through the dangerous places and on to our heavenly home. The path is rough, and unless we follow very closely, we shall have many falls. Then let us keep very near our heavenly Guide.
We can learn our fourth lesson from the old gentleman sitting by the roadside. See how he is pointing out the children to the little one on his knee!
In the same way the people of the world watch Christians as they travel on through life. They see both the good and the bad that we do, and are always ready to tell others and talk about anything wrong they see in us. So we ought always to be careful to let others see in us only good. They may laugh at us and say we are cowards and afraid to do wrong. But we must not mind that, for it is better to please God than to please men.
ML 04/17/1904