Is That Mine? | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 10, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 47.

"Is That Mine?"

As I passed a beautiful house on Ashland avenue, the other day, I heard a little two-year-old, who was taking a walk with her father, turn to him and ask, "Is that mine, papa?" She meant the house, which some way impressed her, as it did me, by its remarkable beauty, as being a desirable possession. Her father answered her, "Yes, little daughter; it is yours to look at, but not to live in." It struck me as being a beautiful answer. The child seemed to be perfectly satisfied and happy with it, as she would not have been had she been answered in a simple negative. Why not make the little ones all rich in the same way? Give them to understand that the most wonderful things in the universe are theirs, as the sun and stars and clouds, the wind and rain, and teach them how wonderful they are by calling attention to them and helping them to understand. Teach them that all their eyes can see or their ears hear, belongs by right to them. Make them rich in things that may always be theirs. Let them know that they are heirs to the common heritage that is ever a blessing, placing the possessor beyond the reach of poverty.—Sel.