“What do you mean — mission? You sound like our preacher!” Ernestina laughed. “ I’m just a little girl that has a lot of time to think. Your mission is what you’re supposed to do in life. These lilies are meant to be sweet. They have to stay right where they are put, unless someone moves them. But no matter where they are, their wonderful fragrance goes out to everyone around them.” “Why, Ernestina, that’s just like you! You have to stay right here, until someone picks you up and car ries you around. But you are always so nice to everybody! You should have been named ‘Lily!’ I have to go now, but I’m so glad I came!” She gave her friend a hug and skipped down the walk. As Penny walked home, her thoughts were bright with memory of the wonderful Lord Jesus, who came back from the grave that first Easter day, and of her dear little friend, Ernestina, who had been near the shadow of death, too, and who had come back to ‘consider the lilies’ and to mingle her sweetness with theirs. THE STARS A little child lay in her crib be cause she was afraid of the dark. Her father in the room below heard the sobs and came up and said, "What ails you, sweetheart, and why do you cry?" The child said "Oh, father, I am afraid of the dark. Nurse says I am to big to have a light, but the corners are full of dreadful blackness. Oh father, why is it so dark? Why can't it always be day?" The father took the child in his arms and carried her downstairs and out into the night. "Look up there," he said in his kind voice. "Look up and see the lights, God's little lights." The little one looked up and saw the stars sparkling in the dark sky, bright as candles they burned, and yellow as gold. "Oh, father," cried the child. "What are those lovely lights?" "Those are stars," said the father, "Those are God's little lights." "But why haven't I ever seen them before?" "Because you are a very little child, and have never been out in the night before." "Can I see the stars only at night, father?" "Only at night, my child." "Do they only come out at night, father?" "No, they are always there, but we cannot see them when rhe sun is shining." "But father, the darkness is not terrible here, it is beautiful." "Yes, honey, the darkness is al ways beautiful if you will only look up at the stars instead of into the corners."
the story of the Mexican jumping bean
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J um p ! jum p ! jum p ! L oco Lopez, an odd little bean-like seed in Son ora, Mexico, was performing — just like magic! Pale greenish-brown with three sides, he looked like one section of a tiny orange, cut into three pieces. “Mexican jumping bean” he is called. For the bean is the strange wee house of Loco Lopez, a small-sized caterpillar worm. Seeds don’t even have legs, but this one jumps just the same. How did Loco Lopez ever get inside this seed? There’s no hole into which to crawl. What makes the Mexican jumping bean jump? Does he live his whole life there? The answers to these mysteries are all found in the inter esting life of Loco Lopez. Loco means “ crazy,” in Spanish. Loco Lopez does seem to be crazy, until we know him better. He’s so small it would take almost two worms like him to make a mere inch on a WOULD YOU WISH? Would you wish there were no cross On Calvary's hill that darkened day? No thorn-crowned brow or nail-pierced hands Outstretched in love your way? The arms invite both young and old, "Come unto Me and rest; I'll draw you near— Dispel your fear— Embrace you to My heart." Would you wish there were no trial In your life just now? No heart-ache, agony, or pain, To cause your heart to bow? The darkness will to light unfold! You'll lift, with joy, another load! Janet Van Rys ruler. He’s waxy white and red headed. Caterpillars are called larvae. That means they are boys and girls of moths and butterflies. Loco Lopez is a jumping-bean moth larva. His moth mother flew to a certain plant and laid her eggs in its blossoms. Out of one egg crawled tiny Loco Lopez. He ate himself right inside a young seed. Who taught mother moth where to lay her eggs so her babies could get just the right food and shelter? God, our Creator, did. After eating all the bean food, Loco Lopez and his bean were both full-
grown and fell to the ground. He wouldn’t eat his three bare walls though. If he did he would eat him self out of house and home. His secret life inside tells us what makes his bean jump. Loco spins silk threads on the walls. He hooks him self onto these with his sixteen crooked legs. Grabbing hold with his hind legs, he swings around and “ wham!” he hits himself against the sides of his house. This makes his bean house jump. He’s not trying to get out. If we cut an escape hole, he’ll plug it up again with his silk thread. He isn’t ready to escape yet. Wonderfully, though, eventually he does make him self ready to get out when he becomes a moth. With his caterpillar tools, spinning himself into a cocoon, he is careful to leave one end of this open, too. He has never seen a moth. Yet Loco Lopez makes these two easy- to-escape holes for himself, preparing in advance for the day when he will come out, a helpless moth. God gave him that wisdom. Somehow he seems to be expecting BOOKS OF THE BIBLE ACROSTIC By filling in the following blanks you will have the names of five of the Books of the Bible. .. M .. .. One of the Minor Prophets . . A . . . . One of the Gospels .. .. R .. One of the Historical Books .... C .. .. One of the Minor Prophets _ „ H .. .. One of the Minor Prophets to be “ born again” into a “new cre ation.” That’s like the faith which saves us. The Bible says that God saves us by our faith in the Lord Je sus Christ. We, too, believe in a beau tiful future life. All who on earth trust Jesus will, in Heaven, live with Him forever. Right now the Lord Je sus will come into the heart of any boy or girl who will turn from his or her sins and ask Him in. When we, by faith, invite the Lord Jesus into our hearts, He does enter. Then He gives us a real “new birth.” This means that we are changed inside. We have a new life now. And, like Loco Lopez, we’ll have a new body— in Heaven. So Loco is not really “ lo co” and neither are those who trust in the Lord.
H-
MARCH, 1964
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