June 18

“Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come.” — Eccl 12:1

It is easier to begin a Christian life in youth, than at any other time. It is easy to train the heart’s affections around the cross–before they have learned to cling to earth’s sordid things. It is easy to teach young fingers to play on the piano or organ–but it is next to impossible to train the stiff fingers of old age to do it. So it is easy for the young to learn to strike the harps of heaven. It is easier to keep the heart pure and tender, than to get back its purity and tenderness when once they have been lost.