The Lesson of Vacation Days by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 25, 1916

The Lesson of Vacation Days

By Editor

THE next few weeks will witness the close of our denominational schools for another year. Hundreds of young men and women who have been engaged in study for the last nine months will be released to go out to engage in life's practical duties. We are pleased to learn from reports which have come to us that a larger number than ever before will enter some branch of denominational work, the great majority engaging in the sale of our denominational literature. We wish it were possible for every student, particularly those from the higher grades, to dedicate their service in some definite way to the Lord. Some doubtless will need to return to the farm or to the shop or to work in the home on account of conditions which may exist.

We earnestly hope that the vacation days will be profitable ones to every student, and this will be the case if every one seeks to obtain from his summer's experience practical and needed lessons. Let the principles learned in school as theories be practically applied. Practice thrift, industry, and economy. Be cheerful, hopeful, and courageous, even under the most discouraging circumstances.

If it is your privilege to go from door to door in the work of circulating our publications, remember to take your experiences as they come, in the spirit of the Master. Accept rebuff graciously. Pass by unnoticed apparent slights. Remember that you represent a great cause, mighty principles; that you are the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that by your life as well as by the literature you sell you are to represent his character to your fellows.

If you engage in physical labor; if you must toil on the farm or in the shop; if you must wash dishes and sweep floors and cook over hot stoves, remember that even such work gives you a splendid opportunity to exemplify the character of the Master. Possibly you will be helping those in your home who have toiled and labored to support you nine months in school. Act nobly your part, and show, not by empty words but in your kindly attitude, your appreciation of the sacrifice your parents have made.

After all, it is not book knowledge alone which prepares us for life's greater responsibilities. God designs that we should learn lessons from every experience—from our association with books and men and things. Let every student seek to make the vacation days as valuable in the preparation for his life work as if he were engaged in book study. If we will commit our ways to God and permit him to rule our lives, he is abundantly able to make every experience abound for our good.