Keep Out of the Ruts

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 14, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 19.

Keep Out of the Ruts.

A GREAT deal is said of falling into ruts; but there is not half so much danger of falling into ruts as there is of following into them. All workers, especially all beginners in work, are liable to attach too much importance to ways of working which have been sanctioned by long usage, or which have proved a success in certain limited surroundings. The superintendent or teacher, ever anxious to learn, and ever on the lookout for fresh helps, catches sight of a goodly rut, sees a choice company of Sunday-school workers marching along in it, and, so far from falling into it, he walks into it with his eyes wide open. But what may be the best thing for one school, may be the very worst thing for another; and what may have been an excellent method for the past twenty years, may not be so excellent for the next twenty. Avoid, therefore, if you are wise, all unintelligent imitation; for it is deceitfully dangerous in school management. When you see a plan which has been fairly successful in one set of circumstances, do not conclude that it must necessarily be the best thing for you in your set of circumstances, until your mind has had free play around it, or until you bring it to a practical test. What was good enough for your predecessors, ought not to be good enough for you; for the world keeps moving on, and what is wanted for keeping the world moving, is not the capacity for finding easy ruts, but the quick eye and skilled intelligence which will enable one to break new paths where necessary, and to lead wisely rather than to be led unwisely.—Sunday-School Times.