#37 - Build Higher

Build Higher

A young lady was dying of consumption. As she sat at the open window, she saw a couple of little birds come and build their nest on a branch not high from the ground. Day by day she watched them, and observed first the nest, then the eggs, and then the nestlings. As she watched them day by day, she used to shake her head, and say, "Silly birds, why not build higher?" And then when the little nestlings came and began to show their heads above the nest, the burden of her exclamation was still, why not higher?

One morning when she took her accustomed seat at the window lattice, she saw the nest all torn to pieces, and the ground strewn with the feathers of the poor little nestlings, and marks of violence all around; and then she said, "Ah, did I not tell you to build higher! Had you built higher you would have been secure from harm, and this dire mishap would not have befallen you." And you, my friends, when you come to cross the river of death, if ever you fail to get to the better land, when you look back it will be with the bitterest remorse that you will cry out, Why did I not build higher? Why did I not lay up my treasure in heaven, instead of spending my time and my money on the meat which perisheth, and on pleasures which pass away in a moment!--Henry Drummond.

Illustrative Anecdotes for Preachers, Sunday School Teachers, and the Family Circle. Henry M. Tyndall. 1925. #37 (Pages 17-18).