The Home Council

If You Can’t Go Over or Under, Go Round

A baby mole got to feeling big,
And wanted to show how he could dig;
So he plowed along in the soft, warm dirt
Till he hit something hard, and it surely hurt!
A dozen stars flew out of his snout;
He sat on his haunches, began to pout;
Then rammed the thing again with his head—
His grandpap picked him up half dead.
“Young man,” he said, “though your pate is bone,
You can’t butt your way through solid stone.
This bit of advice is good, I’ve found:
If you can’t go over or under, go round.”

A traveler came to a stream one day,
And because it presumed to cross his way,
And wouldn’t turn round to suit his whim
And change its course to go with him,
His anger rose far more than it should,
And he vowed he’d cross right where he stood.
A man said there was a bridge below,
But not a step would he budge or go.
The current was swift and the bank was steep,
But he jumped right in with a violent leap.
A fisherman dragged him out half-drowned:
“When you can’t go over or under, go round.”

If you come to a place that you can’t get through,
Or over or under, the thing to do
Is to find a way round the impassable wall,
Not to say you’ll go your way or not at all.
You can always get to the place you are going,
If you’ll set your sails as the wind is blowing.
If the mountains are high, go round the valley;
If the streets are blocked, go up some alley;
If the parlor-car’s filled, don’t scorn a freight;
If the front door’s closed, go in the side gate.
To reach your goal this advice is sound:
If you can’t go over or under, go round!

—Joseph Morris.

Alternate Reading: Philippians 2:1-18.

The Value of Character Training

A boy has been likened to a hundredweight of good iron, which, in its ordinary form, may not be worth more than a dollar; but when carbonised into steel it is worth twice as much; when made into inch screws, a hundred dollars; if drawn into fine wire, five hundred dollars; if changed into fine needles, a thousand dollars; if into small fish-hooks, twenty-five hundred dollars; if into small watch-screws, three hundred thousand dollars; if into finest hair springs, one million and five hundred thousand dollars. The higher the development, the more hammering, beating, rolling, pounding, and polishing, the more valuable the iron becomes.

—O. S. Marden.

Thou Canst Not Then Be False to Any Man

Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

—William Shakespeare.

One who is false to his home is unsafe in every relation in life.

Alternate Reading: Philippians 1: 8-11.

Jesus at a Pharisee’s Banquet is Anointed by a Sinful Woman

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to dine with him, so Jesus went to his house and took his place at table. Just then a woman, who was an outcast in the town, having ascertained that Jesus was at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and placed herself behind Jesus, near his feet, weeping. Then she began to make his feet wet with her tears, and she dried them with the hair of her head, repeatedly kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself:

“Had this man been The Prophet, he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast.”

But, addressing him, Jesus said:

“Simon, I have something to say to you.”

“Pray, do so, Teacher,” Simon answered; and Jesus began:

“There were two people who were in debt to a moneylender; one owed fifty pounds, and the other five. As they were unable to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them, do you think, will love him the more?”

“I suppose,” answered Simon, “it will be the man to whom he forgave the greater debt.”

“You are right,” said Jesus, and then, turning to the woman, he said to Simon:

“Do you see this woman? I came into your house— you gave me no water for my feet, but she has made my feet wet with tears and dried them with her hair. You did not give me one kiss, but she, from the moment I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint even my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. And for this, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been pardoned, because she has loved greatly; but one who has little pardoned him, loves but little.”

Then he said to the woman: “Your sins have been pardoned.” On this, those at table began to say to one another:

“Who is this man who even pardons sins?”

But Jesus said to the woman:

“Your faith has delivered you; go, and peace be with you.”

—Luke.

Jesus, the Carpenter

If I could hold within my hand
The hammer Jesus swung,
Not all the gold in all the land.
Nor jewels countless as the sand,
All in the balance flung
Could weigh the value of that thing
Round which His fingers once did cling.

If I could have the table
He Once made in Nazareth,
Not all the pearls in all the sea,
Nor crowns of kings or kings to be,
Could buy that thing of wood He made—
The Lord of Lords who learned a trade.

Yea, but His hammer still is shown
By honest hands that toil,
And round His table men sit down;
And all are equals with a crown
Nor gold nor pearls can soil;
The shop of Nazareth was bare,
But Brotherhood was builded there.

—C. M. Shildon.

The Living Word

The word were but a blank, a hollow sound,
If he that spake it were not speaking still,
If all the light and all the shade around
Were aught but issues of Almighty Will.

So, then, believe that every bird that sings,
And every flower that stars the elastic sod,
And every thought the happy summer brings,
To the pure spirit is a word of God.

—S. T. Colbridge.

Alternate Reading: Ephesians 4: 25-32.

Jesus Testifies to John, The Baptizer

When John’s messengers had left, Jesus, speaking to the crowds, began to say with reference to John:

“What did you go out into the Wilderness to look at? A reed waving in the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in rich clothing? Why, those who are accustomed to fine clothes and luxury live in royal palaces. What then did you go to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and far more than a prophet. This is the very man of whom Scripture says—

“‘Behold, I am sending my Messenger before thy face, And he shall prepare thy way before thee.’

There is, I tell you, no one born of a woman who is greater than John; and yet the lowliest in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”

(All the people, when they heard this, and even the tax-gatherers, having accepted John’s baptism, acknowledged the justice of God. But the Pharisees and the Students of the Law, having rejected John’s baptism, frustrated God’s purpose in regard to them.)

“To what then,” Jesus continued, “shall I compare the people of the present generation? What are they like? They are like some little children who are sitting in the market-place and calling out to one another—

“‘We have played the flute for you, but you have not danced;

“‘We have wailed, but you have not wept!’

“For now that John the Baptist has come, not eating bread or drinking wine, you are saying ‘He has a demon in him’; and now that the Son of Man has come, eating and drinking, you are saying ‘Here is a glutton and a wine-drinker, a friend of tax-gatherers and outcasts.’ And yet Wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

—Luke.

“Only what thou art in thyself determines thy value.”

Do the Best You Can

Suppose, my little lady.
Your doll should break her head;
Could you make it whole by crying
Till your eyes and nose were red?
And wouldn’t it be pleasanter
To treat it as a joke,
And say you’re glad ’twas Dolly’s,
And not your head, that broke?

Suppose your task, my little man,
Is very hard to get,
Will it make it any easier
For you to sit and fret?
And wouldn’t it be wiser
Than waiting like a dunce,
To go to work in earnest,
And learn the thing at once?

Suppose that some boys have a horse,
And some a coach and pair,
Will it tire you less while walking
To say it isn’t fair?
And wouldn’t it be nobler
To keep your temper sweet,
And in your heart be thankful
You can walk upon your feet?

And suppose the world don’t please you,
Nor the way some people do,
Do you think the whole creation
Will be altered just for you?
And isn’t it, my boy or girl,
The wisest, bravest plan,
Whatever comes or doesn’t come,
To do the best you can?

—Phoebe Cary.

Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;
Do noble things, not dream them all day long:
And so make life, death and that vast forever
One grand, sweet song.

—Charles Kingsley.

Alternate Reading: Galatians 5:13-24.

God in All Things

For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity,—
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue. And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thought; a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean, and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thoughts,
And rolls through all things.

—William Wordsworth.

I will Find God

I said, “I will find God!” and forth I went
To seek Him in the clearness of the sky,
But before me stood unendurably
Only a pitiless sapphire firmament
Ringing the world,—blank splendor; yet intent
Still to find God, “I will go seek,” said I,
“His way upon the waters,” and drew nigh
An ocean marge weed-strewn and foam-besprent;
And the waves dashed on idle sand and stone,
And very vacant was the long, blue sea;
But in the evening as I sat alone,
My window open to the vanishing day,
Dear God! my own dear God!
I could not choose but kneel and pray,
And it sufficed that I was found of Thee.

—Edward Dowden.

I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend and the Talmud and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.

—Francis Bacon.

Alternate Reading: II Corinthians 11: 19-33.

Jesus Befriends the Widow of Nain

Shortly after, Jesus went to a town called Nain, his disciples and a great crowd going with him. Just as he approached the gate of the town, there was a dead man being carried out for burial—an only son, and his mother was a widow. A large number of the people of the town were with her. When he saw her, the Master was moved with compassion for her, and he said to her: “Do not weep.” Then he went up and touched the bier, and the bearers stopped; and Jesus said:

“Young man, I am speaking to you—Rise!”

The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus restored him to his mother. Every one was awe-struck and began praising God.

“A great prophet has arisen among us,” they said; “and God has visited his people.”

And this story about Jesus spread all through Judea, and in the neighboring countries as well.

The Baptist’s Message to Jesus

All these events were reported to John by his disciples. So he summoned two of them, and sent them to the Master to ask—

“Are you ‘The One Coming,’ or are we to look for some one else?”

When these men found Jesus, they said:

“John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask—’Are you “The One Coming,” or are we to look for somebody else?'”

At that very time Jesus had cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and wicked spirits, and had given many blind people their sight. So his answer to the question was:

“Go and report to John what you have witnessed and heard—the blind recover their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is told to the poor. And blessed is the man who finds no hindrance in me.”

— Luke.

Jesus and John the Baptizer were educated in the same school—the home.

How Happy is he Born and Taught

How happy is he born and taught
Who serveth not another’s will;
Whose armor is his honest thought,
And simple truth his utmost skill;

Whose passions not his masters are;
Whose soul is still prepared for death,
Untied unto the world by care
Of public fame or private breath;

Who envies none that chance doth raise,
Nor vice; who never understood
How deepest wounds are given by praise,
Nor rules of state, but rules of good;

Who hath his life from rumors freed;
Whose conscience is his strong retreat;
Whose state can neither flatterers feed,
Nor ruin make oppressors great;

Who God doth late and early pray
More of His grace than gifts to lend;
And entertains the harmless day
With a religious book or friend.

This man is freed from servile bands
Of hope to rise, of fear to fall;
Lord of himself, though not of lands,
And having nothing, yet hath all.

—Henry Wotton.

Alternate Reading: I Corinthians 12:28 to 13:1-13.