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The Children’s Six Minutes: Knife Lessons

KNIFE LESSONS

I have here a knife. It was given me by a friend, a token of his affection and esteem, when I went aboard the steamer in Manila, Philippine Islands, to return to the homeland. All these years since then the knife has been on my study desk, daily teaching me. What lessons does this knife teach?

First of all the knife tells me of Strength. The most important part of this knife is what I call the backbone. It is the main portion of the knife to which all the blades are fastened, as well as the polished pearl handle. This would be a weak and useless knife did it not have a backbone. It says to me every day “Be strong, stand up, have convictions, be steadfast.”

Lesson number two, Discipline. This knife has been subjected to many trials and tests. The steel of which these blades are made had to go through a hard, hot, trying process before they were tempered and fit to take an edge and hold it. Sometimes I rebel about certain processes of the days, then I think of my knife and learn from it the lesson of discipline.

The third lesson this knife teaches me is Neatness. Now I can picture the man who bought this knife. As he went into the store, he stood before the glass show case wherein were displayed scores of different kinds of knives. There were dark knives and light knives, big knives and little knives. His eye caught this knife, with its graceful lines, its smooth pearl handle, and he said, “That is a neat knife, I’ll take that one.” People are attracted to you by your neatness.

The fourth lesson is Usefulness. Really it is quite wonderful the variety of uses to which this knife can be put. Here is a big blade, and a small blade; here is a blade with a file; folded in the back is a tiny pair of scissors. So the great test of life is its usefulness.

MEMORY VERSE, I Corinthians 9: 22

“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”

MEMORY HYMN

“Jesus calls us.”

1. Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
Of our life’s wild, restless sea;
Day by day his sweet voice sounding,
Saying, “Christian, follow me.”

2. Brothers Simon, Andrew heard it
By the Galilean lake,
Turned from home, and toil, and kindred,
Leaving all for His dear sake.

3. Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain world’s golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying, “Christian, love me more.”

4. In our joys and in our sorrows,
Days of toil and hours of ease,
Still he calls, in cares and pleasures,
“Christian, love me more than these.”

5. Jesus calls us—By your mercies,
Savior, may we hear your call,
Give our hearts to your obedience,
Serve and love you best of all.

Source: Hymns and Devotions for Daily Worship #61

THE CHILDREN’S SIX MINUTES by Bruce S. Wright

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The Children’s Six Minutes: A Happy Home

A HAPPY HOME

This morning, the first thing, my boy said to me, “Tell me a story.” This is the story I told him. Once upon a time, it was a long, long time ago, so long ago that we can scarcely realize how long, more than twenty-five hundred years ago. Well, once upon a time there was a home—homes then were quite the same in most ways as homes are now—there were children in that home. They played and were happy. And too, I suppose they had their misunderstandings, and sometimes the children quarreled. One day the children heard music. Looking up the street they saw a great company of men marching right toward them. They were soldiers. There were thirty thousand of them. In the center of the marching army were some oxen. The oxen were harnessed to a fine, new cart. On the cart was a chest, most beautifully carved and decorated. On the soldiers came. What was the amazement of the boys and girls when they stopped right in front of their house! Then the king, majestic in his bearing and gorgeously arrayed, came to their father and said, “I want to leave this chest here in your house. Take good care of it.” The king’s men brought the wonderful chest within, set it down, went out, and the army marched away. From that hour the home was a different home. There was joy, and peace, and an utter absence of quarreling. Three months passed by. Then one day the king came again and took the chest away. But peace and happiness did not depart with the chest. The home was as happy and peaceful and free from bickering through all the coming months as through the three when the wonderful chest was in the house. What was the chest? It was not the king’s chest; it was the ark of God. You will find this true story in Second Samuel, the sixth chapter.

Memory Verse, II Samuel 6: 11

“And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed him, and all his household.”

MEMORY HYMN

“O happy home, where thou art loved the dearest.”

1 O happy home, where thou art loved the dearest,
thou loving Friend and Savior of our race,
and where among the guests there never cometh
one who can hold such high and honored place!

2 O happy home, where two in heart united
in holy faith and blessed hope are one,
whom death a little while alone divideth,
and cannot end the union here begun!

3 O happy home, whose little ones are given
early to thee in humble faith and prayer,
to thee, their Friend, who from the heights of heaven
guides them, and guards with more than mother’s care!

4 O happy home, where each one serves thee, lowly,
whatever his appointed work may be,
till ev’ry common task seems great and holy,
when it is done, O Lord, as unto thee!

5 O happy home, where thou art not forgotten
when joy is overflowing, full and free,
O happy home, where ev’ry wounded spirit
is brought, Physician, Comforter, to thee –

6 Until at last, when earth’s day’s work is ended,
all meet thee in the blessed home above,
from whence thou camest, where thou hast ascended,
thine everlasting home of peace and love.

Source: Trinity Hymnal (Rev. ed.) #718

THE CHILDREN’S SIX MINUTES by Bruce S. Wright

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The Children’s Six Minutes: The Father’s Care

THE FATHER’S CARE

I have here a nut. It is a pecan. It grows in our southern states. It is a well formed nut with a hard shell. This nut I have is cracked. I open it and I notice just inside a thin, brown coating that covers the meat. I touch this coating to my lips. It is bitter and causes me to pucker my lips. This is the Creator’s blessed provision for the protection of the nut in its growing stage. The bitter coating keeps insects and pests away.

On my way to church this morning I looked up and saw a long piece of yarn flying across the street at a rapid rate. I wondered what could cause that. Then at the front end of the yarn I saw a bird. The bird flew to the gable of a big house. There, in a protected corner, she was making her nest. The yarn was to be woven into her new spring house. So God gives instinct to birds and all his creatures as a mark of his loving care.

The most delicate, sensitive portion of your body is the eye. When I consider how tender and open to harm the eye is I wonder that so many of us go through life with our eyes unhurt. But God has provided a sleepless protection for our eyes. There is a guard, always on duty. Whenever danger comes near, that guard, our eyelid, closes and effectively wards off impending trouble.

We started with the lowest form of life, an inanimate nut. Now we come to the highest, the soul of man. For in each one of you there is something eternal, something akin to God himself. The name we give that eternal spirit is the soul. For the protection of our soul God gives us faith, a sense of right and wrong, conscience, the still small voice. He surrounds us with Christian homes, the Church, helpful fellowship, the means of grace. All these things are a protection for the soul.

MEMORY VERSE, Matthew 6: 28, 29

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

MEMORY HYMN

“While thee I seek, protecting power.”

While Thee I seek, protecting Power,
Be my vain wishes stilled;
And may this consecrated hour
With better hopes be filled.

Thy love the power of thought bestowed;
To Thee my thoughts would soar:
Thy mercy over my life has flowed;
That mercy I adore.

In each event of life, how clear
Thy ruling hand I see!
Each blessing to my soul more dear,
Because conferred by Thee.

In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear,
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.

When gladness wings my favored hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill;
Resigned, when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet Thy will.

My lifted eye, without a tear,
The gathering storm shall see:
My steadfast heart shall know no fear;
That heart will rest on Thee.

THE CHILDREN’S SIX MINUTES by Bruce S. Wright

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THE CHILDREN’S SIX MINUTES by Bruce S. Wright

THE CHILDREN’S SIX MINUTES

BY

BRUCE S. WRIGHT

“The Children’s Six Minutes” by Bruce S. Wright is a collection of brief sermons written in the early 20th century, designed for young audiences in a church setting. The book aims to engage children during Sunday worship by delivering meaningful messages in a concise and relatable manner. Through a series of creative and child-friendly discussions, Wright emphasizes essential Christian values such as kindness, purpose, and the importance of spiritual growth.

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The Children’s Six Minutes: Letters

LETTERS

Who is the most popular man in your town? The Postman. Who is the man who is most eagerly looked for as he comes down the street? The Postman. Who receives, at every door where he stops, a most cordial welcome? The Postman. I wonder if the thrill of getting a letter will ever pass away. When you come home from school the first thing you do is to look on the hall table to see if the Postman has brought you a letter. It is the same when we grow up. No matter how many letters we may receive we never get over the keen delight at having the Postman bring us letters.

Last Sunday afternoon you wrote your grandmother. You said, “Only two months more of school and then I am coming to see you, and all the summer vacation I am going to play around your big house, and in the barn, and across the fields, and through the woods.” On your way to school Monday morning, you posted that letter. Monday afternoon you began looking for an answer. Tuesday you were impatient [59]that you had not received a reply. Wednesday you were almost in tears, though, had you only stopped to think you would have known that it takes two days for a letter to get to your grandmother, she lives so far away. Thursday the answer came. “I am eager for vacation time to come so that you, my dear grandchild, may be here with me.”

I have here an unusual book. It is a book of letters. All the letters were written by a big man, a father, to little children, his children. The man who wrote them was Theodore Roosevelt. What fortunate children were his! Not many fathers take time to write to their children as did our great president. Oh, for more fathers like Roosevelt! Oh, for appreciative children, who will not only gladly receive, but cheerfully write, letters of love!

MEMORY VERSE, I John 2: 12

“I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.”

MEMORY HYMN

“I love to tell the story.”

1 I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and His glory,
of Jesus and His love.
I love to tell the story
because I know it’s true.
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else can do.

Refrain:
I love to tell the story!
‘Twill be my theme in glory
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and His love.

2 I love to tell the story;
more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies
of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story;
it did so much for me,
and that is just the reason
I tell it now to thee. [Refrain]

3 I love to tell the story;
’tis pleasant to repeat
what seems, each time I tell it
more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story;
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God’s own holy Word. [Refrain]

4 I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.
And when in scenes of glory
I sing the new, new song,
’twill be the old, old story
that I have loved so long. [Refrain]

Source: Our Great Redeemer’s Praise #160

https://articlesforchristians.blog/?p=16161

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