Week 1: Meet the Desley Children!
ADVENTURE AWAITS the four Desley children! Can’t you see them now, strewn about the room and as different as a bouquet of wildflowers? Already, each of them is uniquely set upon their own path. Dick is clever and bright, yet a touch of pride lurks in his heart. Matty is pretty and silly, yet her dreams are filled with nothing but finery and ribbons. Lubin is practical, yet plump. Nelly is thoughtful and lame, yet she has a sweet, quiet influence on the others. (Did you see how Dick stopped complaining after Nelly’s gentle rebuke?)
The Desley children are about to embark on the very same adventure that you and I are on right now. Every day we are greeted with opportunities to learn. Although Mr. Learning asks us to set aside our days of idleness and pleasure, he always offers us something better: knowledge.
Do you remember the first time you learned how to do something? Maybe it was the difficult task of riding a bike down a sunny lane. Perhaps it was taking a little seed, placing it deep down into a little bit of dirt and faithfully watering it until a burst of green popped out. Or, maybe it was dipping a paintbrush into your favorite color and splashing it upon a white piece of paper to create your first piece of artwork.
Consider your favorite thing to do in the whole wide world. Are you thinking of it? Well, whatever that thing is, you probably had to learn how to do it. Although it is rarely fun to learn how to ride a bike (bring a box of band-aids!), learning is the path that take us to true success. Without the help of Mr. Learning, we would never know that if we mix flour and sugar with a little bit of eggs, milk, vanilla, and chocolate, we could create something as yummy as an ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie!
Dick grasped a little bit of this wondrous knowledge when he spoke excitedly about all the gifts Mr. Learning gave to his friends. As Dick pointed out—all the successful and rich people in this world were pupils of Mr. Learning. You simply cannot attain success without his help!
However, it is important to note that no matter how excited we are about learning, we must follow Mr. Learning closely, no matter how distracted we get or how bored we might feel. If we let our mind wander or give up too soon, we lose out on the best gift of all—a chocolate chip cookie! (Alright, learning may not always have such tasty results, but it is always worth it.)
Right here, right now, we have the opportunity to learn. Whether we’re climbing those cumbersome stairs of multiplication, carrying the burden of the grates of arithmetic, or trying to climb the ladder of spelling, (we’ll get to those battles in the next couple of weeks) may we all strive to become friends with Mr. Learning!
Now, friends, pull out your paper, ink pot, and blotting paper—Mr. Learning is coming to tea!
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Bible memory verse for week one:
“Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.”
