SHARP CORNERS by M. E. Steward

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 26, 1877

SHARP CORNERS.

By M. E. Steward

I have often thought of the remarks of Bro.—— concerning a co-laborer. “He takes but little room; one is not afraid of running against sharp corners when he is around.” That young man must have got self out of the way; and how agreeable it made his presence! My young friends, how is it with you? Are you trying to find and hew down the sharp corners? “I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong”—strong to overcome evil, envy, pride, self-will, etc., corners so “sharp” as not only to be in the way of others, but to keep good angels from coming very near you. Your characters are yet very impressible. Let me entreat you to begin at once to round them up by well directed, continued effort and help from on high. Be not only a tower of strength, but a graceful column of moral beauty. Get ready for a position of loved and honored usefulness in the broad field you will soon enter.

Young lady, do you fill so large a space that brothers and sisters and even parents have to move very carefully lest they hit you somewhere? Do you feel that your mates are not always free and cordial toward you? and have you never thought they may be afraid of some “sharp corner”? Look out for selfishness, jealousy, etc. You may expect always to be treated with this reserve unless you go to work resolving that every unlovely trait shall be subdued, everything that could cause a stinging word or unkind glance. The easiest way to conquer is to live for others instead of yourself. Try it, relying on Jesus for the help you need, and see if you long have cause to feel you are unloved. Beware of unconscious irritability always. Oh! what blessed treasures our daughters are to us when the “sharp corners” are removed, and the grace of God lives in their hearts.

Have we come to middle age without paying much attention to these “sharp corners”? How they will stand in the way in the bustle and perplexities of active life, often preventing the interchange of warm friendship, and closing avenues of usefulness! Though our habits are strong, yet “he giveth more grace” to those who need more. He can easily break the rock, and in him we may and must conquer.

There are aged persons (with sorrowful respect for grey hairs I write) who always seem to require a wide berth. Unloving, they fail of securing the love that would so smooth their descending way. I have known old age sweetly blessed and cheered with the confiding love of old and young, because kindly sympathies had always so ruled their lives that even in the weakness of life’s decline, asperity could find no room. Oh! how we reverence such a grand old age as that!

Mother, are you watching for unlovely developments in your little ones? Yielding clay are they in your hands. With a firm hold from above, shall we not train these precious ones for a place in the temple of our God? It is a golden moment for our work. A little effort now will tell far more than a mighty one a few years hence. Dr. Kellogg remarked in a public meeting here not long since, that the brain of an infant is so very soft that the mother can make its mind just about what she will. Thus it is that “the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rocks the world.” But who is awake to these things, and who is sacrificing self for the formation of right characters in her children? Let us wisely, kindly, firmly, subdue or develop as the case may require, laying a secure foundation till we shall come to stand before the master with sweet, grateful triumph, exclaiming, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me.”

M. E. STEWARD.

Battle Creek.