THE LOVE OF GOD | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Aug 27, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 34.

THE LOVE OF GOD.

Searching for strawberries ready to eat, Finding them crimson, large, and sweet, What do you think I found at my feet, Deep in the green hillside?

Four brown sparrows, the cunning things, Feathered on breast and back and wings, Proud of the dignity plumage brings, Opening their four mouths wide.

Stooping lower to scan my prize, Watching their motions with curious eyes, Dropping my berries in glad surprise, A plaintive sound I heard.

And, looking up at the mournful call, I spied on a branch near the old stone wall, Tumbling and twittering, ready to fall, The poor little mother bird.

With grief and terror her heart was wrung, And while to slender bough she clung, She felt that the lives of her birdlings hung On a more slender thread.

Ah, birdie, I said, if you only knew My heart was tender and warm and true! But the thought that I loved her birdlings too, Never entered her small brown head.

And so through this world of ours we go, Bearing our burdens of needless wo, Many a heart beating heavy and slow, Under its load and care.

And, O, if we only knew That God is tender and warm and true, And that he loves us through and through, Our hearts would be lighter than air! —Selected.