THE EARWIG.
WHEN I was a little child of about five, I remember very well how we
used to play in the garden all the long summer days, and how insects
and toads, hedgehogs and beetles, were our playthings, besides the
intense enjoyment of climbing trees, high swinging, and other delights.
But fond as we were of insects, I had the most shrinking fear of an
earwig.
One day, I thought I felt something crawl down my neck, and in an agony
I asked my little brothers and sisters, and I daresay our busy nurse,
to see if they could find it. Nobody took any heed of my distress,
till, in some way, I suppose, I came across my father.
I never had any reason to doubt his tenderness, and whether he guessed
there was something wrong, or whether I ran to him and explained, I
cannot now remember.
But what is indelibly impressed on my memory is this.
He took me at once to his room, and while cheeringly assuring me that
even if it were an earwig, it would do me no harm, he began with the
utmost tenderness to take off my frock, and to peep about my little
shoulders; and still not finding it, he took off garment by garment,
till he satisfied himself and me that no earwig was there. Then he
dressed me again, and with comforted heart we went downstairs together.
Shall I ever forget that little childish scene? Does it not rise before
me every time I read those tender words in the 103rd Psalm, "Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him."
Now, what I want you all to remember, dear children, is this. Let this
little picture of an earthly father's pity, help you to understand the
Heavenly Father's pity.
We all have troubles and fears, difficulties and temptations. Some
more, some less.
Let us take them to the pitying Heavenly Father. The difficulty or fear
may be as unwarrantable as my dread of the earwig, or it may be a real
danger or temptation which assails us. But whatever it is, trust the
great Father's love. Tell Him all about it, ask Him to help you, as He
knows best how; leave it in His Hands how to do it, and receive His
assurance of peace when you have done all this.
Then at rest from your fears, and the worst of your difficulties, go
hand in hand into the work of life, with a firmer trust than ever in
your Father's love.
And the Heavenly Father is always near at hand!