Sis. Enesworth “Pixie” McLeod, of Langlois, Oregon recently wrote to us, confirming those in her area also use the “daily readings” for Sunday School. She mentioned that compromise was reached because they have only one young man in Sunday School, and he has to drive 54 miles one way to attend meeting with her, and is not always able to be there ahead of meeting time.
In addition to the young man, there are two brethren, “babes” in Christ, who are in the Sunday School. This presented a dilemma for Sis. McLeod, but she had asked Bro. Harry Whittaker (in 1985) about the propriety of a sister teaching young brothers in Sunday School, and he had responded, “It’s a matter of priorities. Feed my lambs is an important consideration.”
Background Information
In her letter, Sis. Pixie referred to her background, and we felt it would be important to pass the information on to our readers. Pixie’s husband had not been in the Truth, and for 8 1/2 years her only contact with other Christadelphians was in the form of correspondence from a sister in England who began writing her in 1947. The English sister obtained Sis. Pixie’s name from the Christadelphian Isolation League. It’s truly amazing how much little things like that can come to mean to others.
Beginning in 1954, Sis. Pixie enjoyed visits, some more prolonged than others, from brethren who were passing through. Between 1976 and 1981, the number at times swelled to 14. But with the timber shortage, many returned to the Southern California area to obtain employment
Currently, with the marriage of her son and the baptism of her son-in-law, they now number 5. They all live close to each other, which must be a great source of comfort. Sis. McLeod’s husband was baptized in 1975. Five years later, he fell asleep. All five of their children have been baptized.
In addition to her interesting letter, Sis. Pixie included a copy of an article published several years ago; we feel it is a strong testimony to the determination we must have if we are going to survive “in the wilderness.”
No Time To Study?
“You say you have no time to read. The plea is utterly inadmissible. You take time to eat and drink, and this is the most important kind of eating and drinking.”1
When a harried young mother reads the above, she may wonder if the writer ever observed a mother with several pre-school children and no help. Her physical eating is a bite now and a bite later with child tending between bites, her food getting cold, and she too tired to care. How is a young mother to find time to study?
Because I want to convince you that I do know whereof I speak, I will cite my own experience. I read all of Eureka while feeding my third baby, but by the time my twins were toddling, I had five children in all, it was all I could manage just to do the junior readings with the two oldest boys.
This part of Oregon was not visited by tourists at that time and my husband was not in the Truth. My very life, spiritually, depended on Bible study, but try as I might, I could find no way to do it. This was before disposable diapers, and we did not have enough water for an automatic washer. Additionally, I baked every bit of bread we ate, as well as gardening, canning, etc.
After much prayer, I was driven to the conclusion that the only possibility was to get up and study before anyone else got up. To get an hour and a half of study, I would have to get up at 4:30 a.m. The mere idea was staggering. I had always been a “night owl,” at my peak in late afternoon and evening, and barely able to “chew gum and walk” in the morning.
I resisted the suggestion at first, thinking it would surely make me ill, and I probably couldn’t think in the morning anyway. But I had to try it. I found that after lighting our wood fires and making and drinking a strong cup of tea, I was awake enough to study. What a blessing it brought! Instead of suffering from curtailed sleep, I found myself more relaxed and competent. Recently, a young mother reported the same benefit: “Before, everything was going wrong, but when I started this early morning study, everything seemed to fall into place.”
One day, I thought of something I could have been doing all along, and have been doing ever since. I remarked to my children, “You know, if I had something to hold my book at the right angle, up out of the flour, I could read while I mix and knead bread,” which at that time I was doing 5 times a week. My seven year old son went out to the workshop and made a bookrest out of a 1 x 12 rough plank. It was a big, ugly thing, with an elastic band tacked across it to hold the book open. But, it did the job – it still does. I’ve been using it for 26 years now and would not exchange it for the prettiest one ever made.
If you really want to study, God will show you a way. Remember, “Where people place the Bible, they place God. The place it demands is the heart, the throne. When you neglect it, you neglect God.”2
Do you secretly feel that you haven’t any real appetite for the Scriptures? Don’t worry, that is natural. “You will find that the frequent reading of the Scriptures creates a delight in them, so that the more we read them, the more we desire to do so.”3
Do you sometimes feel you aren’t smart enough for deep Bible study? “The Bible is like a vast ocean, shallow enough at the edges for the smallest child to play in it safely, deep enough in its depths to defy the strongest swimmer.”4 The Creator of this vast ocean does not just care for the deep-sea diver; He also takes pleasure in His babes, paddling around the edges. Proper nourishment on the milk of the Word will inevitably cause the babes to grow.
Our Heavenly Father says, “If you seek wisdom like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then wisdom will come into your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul” (Prov. 2:1-10 RSV; James 1:5; Matt. 7:8.)
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One