ONE morning, a dear little girl came to her mother with a beaming, happy face, having in her hand a tiny basket, which had been presented to her full of chocolates. These had long since disappeared, as all our young friends will understand, but now, on opening it to show to her mother, it was seen to be filled to the brim with the pretty, young, silvery buds of the palm tree, which she had gathered, and stripped off the hard-brown covering which had protected them during the cold of winter.
Her satisfaction was evidently great in seeing her valued little basket filled with the velvety things she so much liked.
Her mother said, “How pretty! But is it not a pity to gather them so young.? They would grow so much larger.”
“O, no, mother, I like them while they are young!” she answered.
“Yes, dear child,” was the mother’s reply, “that is why the Lord Jesus Christ invites the little children to come to Him. He likes them to come while they are young, and says, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me.’”
And if you are past being little children as to age, the same blessed Person says, ‘Remember NOW they Creator in the days of thy YOUTH, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.’” (Eccles. 12:11Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; (Ecclesiastes 12:1).)
ML 02/18/1917