MEMORY VERSE, Psalm 119:  11

    “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might; not sin against
    thee.”

MEMORY HYMN [201]

    "How precious is the book divine!"

CANDLE CHILDREN

What is this I have here?  It is a candle in a candlestick.  There is something about a candle we all love.  We have our clear gas lights and our still more brilliant electric bulbs, but when the birthday comes we want a cake with candles on it.  Think of this as a birthday candle and let it speak to you.

First of all this candle speaks of Symmetry.  How perfectly formed is this candle!  It is smooth, there are no rough places that stand out like an ugly wart on one’s face.  Your life should have symmetry.  God asks you to give heed to your physical, your mental and your spiritual duties that your life may be well rounded, a life of beautiful symmetry.

Second, this candle stands for Fragrance.  This is a fragrant candle.  It is what is known as a “barberry” candle.  There are some children we do not like to have around, they are surly, sulky and mean.  There are others we dear love to have with us at all times.  They have what I call fragrance.  They have the fragrance of thoughtfulness, the sweetness of unselfishness.

In the third place this candle means Erectness.  How straight it stands in the candlestick!  Stand up straight, girls and boys.  Do not stoop.  Do not hump yourself over your school desk.  Walk erect.  It means so much now, it will mean much more in later years.  Some day, if you heed my word, you will be grateful that the preacher once said to you so emphatically that you could not forget, “John, Mary, stand up straight.”

Fourth, the candle stands for Light.  It is useless until the wick is lighted.  It burns for others.  Your life is a light.  Jesus wants all Christians to think of themselves as lights in the world.  “Let your light shine.”  Be a lighted candle for the Lord.

MEMORY VERSE, Proverbs 20:  27

    “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.”

MEMORY HYMN [84]

    "The spacious firmament on high."

ALAS, THE MARKS

There is an old, old story about a father who had great difficulty in making his boy obey.  The boy did wrong in spite of all that the father could say or do.  One day the father said to the boy, “Here is the shed door, now every time you do wrong I am going to pound a nail into the door.”  One by one the nails were pounded into the door, until it was literally filled with nails.  The boy did not like the looks of the door, the thought of it began to trouble his conscience.  So he spoke to his father about it.  “Well,” said his father, “I’ll tell you what we will do.  Every time you are obedient, every time you do a good deed rather than a wrong one, we will pull a nail out.”  The bargain was struck, and as, one by one, the nails were driven in, so, one by one, they were pulled out.