Just a couple weeks ago, I took my kids to the children's museum in Tuscaloosa. They have several interesting exhibits, but there was one that day that my daughter insisted we see. It was just a small classroom that looked like it had been plucked out of the 1930s. Of course, she was to be the teacher and I had to sit on a bench for toddlers, acting like an eager pupil.
While I listened to her tell me about the “ABQs” and bears, I noticed some old school books that were on display. I managed to grab one, without getting scolded by the teacher, and started to thumb threw it. It was the revised edition of McGuffy's Third Eclectic Reader, which was published in the 1920s. It was filled with different stories and lessons, but a certain poem, entitled Remember, caught my attention. Indeed, I was somewhat taken aback over what it stated:
Remember, Child, remember,
That God is in the sky;
That He looks down on all we do.
With an ever-wakeful eye.
Remember, oh remember,
That, all the day and night,
He sees our thoughts and actions
With an ever-watchful sight.
Remember, child, remember,
That God is good and true;
That He wishes us to always be
Like Him in all we do.
Remember that He ever hates
A falsehood or a lie;
Remember He will punish, too,
The wicked, by and by.
Remember, oh Remember,
The He is like a friend,
And wishes us to holy be,
And happy, in the end.
Remember, child, remember,
To pray to Him in heaven;
And if you have been doing wrong,
Oh, ask to be forgiven.
Be sorry, in your little prayer,
And whisper in His ear;
Ask His forgiveness and His love,
And He will surely hear.
Remember, child, remember,
That you love, with all your might,
The God who watches o'er us,
And gives us each delight;
Who guards us ever through the day,
And saves us in the night.
What a difference in what is taught in schools today! Now, I am not going to echo the tattered cliché, “Everything has gone downhill, since they took prayer out of the schools!” The reality is that biblical morality was already being tossed out of homes across America, long before government hampered down on various expressions of Christianity. God's intention is for us to teach our children about Him, not the government!
However, it is sad to see how things have radically changed. Curriculum is saturated with aggressively liberal ideals and distorted history, while much of the required reading in high-schools, uplifts immorality and demeans spiritual integrity. Universities teach students to not only rebel against “authoritarian and organized” religion, but also to yield their souls up to the utopia of an ever expanding government. The betterment of society is no longer about a change in one's heart, but about one's response to climate change! In the 60s, news rang out about an impending, apocalyptic winter, but somehow that flipped, and in the 90s word spread rapidly about the impending doom of global warming.
This society has been conditioned to weep over the death of an endangered animal, while cheering over legislation that allows an expectant woman the choice to murder her unborn, right up to the day of delivery! It is bad enough that far too many parents today are more concerned about their kids getting a successful career rather than growing in moral character!
My heart ached, when I read the poem Remember, because remembering is the issue. We don't reflect on the wondrous deeds of the Lord. We have forgotten His statutes. We haven't passed down the holy testimonies of past saints nor taught the unfading truths of God's word to this generation. We must remember! They must remember! We must be willing to cry out as David, “O God, you have taught me ever since I was young, and I still talk about the miracles you have done. Even when I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me live to tell the people of this age what your strength has accomplished, to tell about your power to all who will come. (Psalms 71:17-18 / GWT)” After all, “God is good and true...He wishes us to always be like Him in all we do.”
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