A Suggestion from the Sensitive Garden Herb— The Destruction of Joy and Life Itself by Over-Sensitiveness
By MRS. MARY ALICE HARE LOPER, M. S.
ONE of the sweet recollections of my childhood days is that of a visit with my father to the gardens of a German florist who lived not far from my early home.
Like all children, I was very fond of flowers, and hence I took great delight in viewing the fascinating beauties of that inclosure where nature displayed her skill in so marked a manner as a reward for the faithful efforts of the devoted gardener. Many beautiful blossoms seemed to smile beneath our fond inspection; and they were of such a nature that they would not frown if touched, or even picked, for one's pleasure.
But I shall never forget one little plant to which our attention was called, which possessed a very peculiar make-up. The gardener told us it was called the sensitive plant—a very appropriate name indeed. A casual glance revealed a very pretty leafed plant. But, alas! Upon closer acquaintance, we found that if a leaf were touched, unintentionally or otherwise, it had a tendency to close up as though its feelings had been very much wounded.
THE HUMAN SENSITIVE PLANT
Here and there in the garden of life are human sensitive plants. Such persons have never permitted themselves to “rub elbows” very much with the world, and therefore do not recognize that others have rights equal to their own. Their selfish tendencies have been so cultivated that they look at others through the magnifying lens of adverse criticism. They wear their nerves on the outside, as it were, although nature carefully covers them up. They are living epistles, known and read in every language; but the melancholy message they bear to the world, never does any one any good.
WITHERS IF TOUCHED
The sensitive plant in nature's garden does not wither unless it is really touched; but the human species withers under the influence of imaginary touches as well. Those who are associated with these human specimens, know how very disagreeable their society is. They are capable of keeping their best friends in a constant state of uncertainty. On one occasion, they may be all smiles; and the very next time they are met, they may, without any visible cause, look as though there were nothing in life worth living for.
Human sensitive plants habitually cultivate the very unpleasant and disagreeable trait of faultfinding. They have humored themselves until they have become spoiled, and act like small children in need of discipline. While they make others very unhappy, they make themselves most unhappy of all. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” But such persons are not known because of the fragrance of good deeds and kind acts that goes out in blessing to those in need. They come far short of giving to humanity the best service of which they are capable.
CIRCUMSCRIBES HIS SPHERE
Over-sensitiveness means under-usefulness; for one who cultivates this tendency, circumscribes his sphere of good. He forms the habit of becoming blue and unhappy. If no one has hurt his feelings recently, there have been many in the past who have done so; and these memories he keeps fresh, ready to be brought forth on all occasions.
It is truly unprofitable to meditate upon and talk about that which always brings unhappiness. David says, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee,”—quite different from that other sentiment, “Others’ words have I hid in my heart, that I might sin against Thee.” The soul who practices the latter sentiment, does not live very near to the throne. If one must tell how he has been slighted, let him tell it to God in secret, and then wait to hear what God has to say in reply. The “still small voice” is the greatest educator in the world, but it never tells any one to meditate upon and talk about the failings of others. On the contrary, it teaches, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
PROFITABLE EMPLOYMENT AN ANTIDOTE
There is nothing like keeping so profitably employed that one has no time for harmful meditation. Many of the troubles of life are purely imaginary, and all the rest are for our good. Little personal wounds should be ignored by the individual who receives them. He should rise above petty annoyances that gnaw at the very vitals of spiritual life. No one can live up to his privileges as a Christian, and at the same time live up to his opportunities as a sensitive plant. It is deplorable for one to bury his talents beneath the musty debris of slights and personal thrusts; but this can be done. And those talents can never be restored to usefulness until he to whom they belong has decided to abandon self and to live for the good of others.
It is possible for one to have his thoughts so taken up with criticism of the church in general, that it is almost impossible to persuade him that the failings of church people do not in the least affect the genuineness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a sad mistake to run the risk of losing the joys of heaven because of the faults and failings of others.
THE CHURCH SENSITIVE PLANT
Have you a sensitive plant in your church? If so, you no doubt have had the privilege of looking upon his distorted features quite frequently; for the one that grows in the church garden is usually about as touchy as those found elsewhere. The reason is, he is not thoroughly converted. He does not discipline himself to practice constant consecration. He expects more attention from others, perhaps, than is his just due. He criticizes the actions of others in a way that shows his lack of intimate acquaintance with Christ. He is not the constant spiritual uplift that every church member should be.
One sensitive plant in a church, at times renders the whole atmosphere disagreeable. Everybody knows when he thinks he has been “touched,” his fallen countenance and disconsolate manner being very much in evidence. The effect is depressing, and has a tendency to discourage persons who are new in the Christian way, and who have a right to expect better things from those who have made a Christian profession for a longer time.
NURSING GRIEVANCES AND USEFULNESS
The work of the gospel suffers at the hands of those who think they have been slighted or mistreated. Such meditations have a tendency to exalt self, and to place stumbling blocks in the way of others. No one can spend his time in faultfinding, and in nursing either real or imaginary wounds, without neglecting his God-given work of being a blessing to humanity. One should remember that his actions may be just as disagreeable to others as others’ actions are to him.
It is no one's province to dictate what another shall or shall not do. It was not Peter's business to dictate as to John's work. But Christ did not say, “Mind your own business, Peter”; for Christ always spoke in befitting terms. He simply said, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou Me.” It was Peter's duty to look after his own work; for he had plenty to do to occupy all his time, without meddling about what others should do. Peter was the sensitive plant in the gospel garden of the disciples, as was very evident when he severed the ear from one who was disrespectful to the Lord. Jesus did not commend him for thus giving up to provocation. He does condemn any one for becoming wrought up over anything. We are not to feel sore over what any one else does, whether intentionally to wound or otherwise.
There are many sensitive plants in the human garden of earth, but there will be none in heaven. People who are to live there, will learn here to bear imaginary or real slights, and to keep sweet over them.
It is a blessed thing to become so seasoned by doing good that one does not realize that he has any “feelings.” The gospel does not appeal to feelings, but to the higher qualities of the mind. The Christian knows that his sins are forgiven, no matter what his feelings may be. Take selfish feelings from the human sensitive plant, and his whole nature would be changed. This is just what Christ wants to do for every soul who has not yet had his ill feelings eliminated. This done, happiness reigns supreme in the heart, and hope thrills the harp of life with a new song, while a blessed consecration to personal service for others keeps silent every discordant note.
50 Inspiring Stories
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It meant something to blaze the trail in China, India, and the cannibal islands fifty or one hundred years ago. God’s protecting care was exercised time and again, as shown in the remarkable deliverance of His servants at different times. Some of these incidents, together with the experiences of the missionaries, and results of their labors, are inspiringly set forth in this splendid biographical volume.
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A Score in Noah’s Favor
A RECENT editorial in the Los Angeles Daily Times makes some very interesting statements in regard to Noah and his ark. Speaking of the critics that have been seeking to make it appear that the story of the Flood was only a legend, the Times says:
“Unbelievers were not lacking to declare that the old ark was a tub, and the whole story ridiculous; but when the real critics went to work to dismantle the legendary vessel rib by rib, they encountered a miracle.”
Mr. George W. Dickie, a Scotchman by birth, and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, was employed by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco in making the plans for the battleship Oregon, of the United States navy, which, at the time of its projection, ranked with the largest battleships built. The Times editor says:
“At the time when the plans for the Oregon were under discussion, Mr. Dickie’s attention was called to an article ridiculing the idea that Noah and his sons could have built a vessel in the Euphrates Valley that would be seaworthy. He took the book of Genesis, and proceeded to reduce the Biblical cubits to feet and inches, in order to determine what the general design of the ark was like. To his surprise, he discovered that each of the nine dimensions given in the Bible for the construction of the ark corresponded, with but one minor difference, exactly to those proposed for the Oregon. The only difference was that the Oregon was just one seventh smaller in each dimension than the ark. Struck by this remarkable coincidence, he took the question up the next day with the United States Navy Department, with the result that the plans finally adopted were a duplicate of those for the ark, except that the dimensions were still one seventh less. The remarkable speed maintained by the Oregon on its trip around the Horn to join Sampson’s fleet is now a chapter of history. The proportionate dimensions of the Oregon have been maintained in building larger vessels by our navy.”
The Times then comments in this strain:
“Theologians are now in position to demand of the iconoclasts how those dimensions, embodying the greatest carrying power with the least resistance, were obtained. How petty appear some of Ingersoll’s alleged ‘Mistakes of Moses’ before this divine example! It will not aid the iconoclast to allege that the dimensions were supplied several thousand years after the death of Moses. Those now used in the English Bible are the same which appeared in the St. James version, which was translated into English in the seventeenth century. At that time, sea-going vessels were built with dimensions as unlike those of the ark as the ark itself differed from the ‘tub’ of the early iconoclasts.”
“One of the surprising facts of history is that it took two thousand years for the science of marine engineering to develop the highest type of sea-going craft, when the secrets of the true dimensions for the greatest carrying power, combined with the least resistance to the action of the waves, rested all that time within the pages of the book of Genesis.”
Following the foregoing remarks, it was very fitting for the editor of the Times to utter the exclamation, “O ye of little faith!”
The devil is very busy in getting a certain class of scientists to make light of large portions of the Scripture. This scientific ridicule in this age, when science has been made a god, has even led ministers in the sacred desk to rise up to say that many portions of the Bible are pure myth and legend. The story of Noah and the ark and the Flood have been quite generally admitted into this catalogue of legends and myths. Yet there are conditions all over the world today that cannot be successfully explained on any other hypothesis except that of the universal Flood.
Sensible men and women can safely anchor their faith to the grand old book of God. It gives them hope, comfort, and good cheer in the midst of the darkest and most trying hours of life. We can well afford to allow shallow-minded men to laugh at us for believing the story of divine inspiration. The prophecy, the precept, and the history of the book of God can be relied upon; and relying upon it, we may know that the joys of the eternal world will soon be ours. And how foolish it is to be turned away from such a hope by the carpings of men who would set up their finite wisdom against the knowledge and the utterances of the most high God!
Glories in the Heavens
EVERY time the telescope is increased in power, new marvels and new beauties are discovered among the heavenly bodies. One of the latest discoveries, according to current reports, is that by Prof. Robert Wood, head of the physics department of Johns Hopkins University, of a “new broad blade ring on Saturn.” This discovery was achieved through the new sixty-inch telescope on Mount Wilson, near Los Angeles, California. Through the same instrument, the professor also secured remarkable photographs of Jupiter and the moon.
As the revelator was viewing the last great convulsions of earth, which occur just as Christ is coming, he said, “The heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up.” Rev. 6:14. Immediately following this removing of the heavens—referring, of course, to changes that take place in our atmosphere—the text says that “the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of Their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?” Rev. 6:15-17.
This text would indicate that when the hazy atmosphere surrounding our planet is cleared, at least for a brief interval, to make way for the second coming of Christ, the dwellers on earth will be able to see as never before; for even though Christ is not then near enough for the brightness of His coming to destroy the wicked, yet they can see Him, and have time to call, while He is drawing nearer and nearer, for the mountains and the rocks to hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne.
When this earth plunged itself into sin, not only did gross darkness cover the people, but darkness covered the earth also. Isa. 60:2. But while Christ was here in person, He earnestly prayed: “Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24.
Our natural eyes have been weakened through sin. The telescope enables us, regardless of our murky, darkened atmosphere, to behold some of the glories of the great universe our heavenly Father has created; but how thrilling it is to know that we are standing on the verge of that time when the Master shall return to earth in person, and when the immortal eyes of the redeemed shall behold for the first time the infinite splendors of the handiwork of the great King of eternity!
The prayer of Christ that His redeemed might behold the glories He has with His Father, will surely be answered. And who can afford to neglect the preparation to be present when the great day arrives? Who can afford to miss seeing the glories of creation as they will be revealed to the redeemed—glories far beyond any conception that can be brought to the mind even by the aid of the most powerful instruments the inventive genius of man has produced!
“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.” Isa. 64:4.
