LITTLE CREATURES

There are four little creatures
And they are very wise;
The Proverbs names their features
Which no one should despise.
We’ll think of them and then we’ll see
Lessons from them, for you and me.

The first one which would rather
Work when it can - the ant -
Eats what it worked to gather
In winter when it can’t.  
So let us work to gather food
And when it’s Christ it will be good.

Rock-badgers are the second
And nobody should mock
- However weak they’re reckoned -
Because their house is rock.
We will be safe from beasts which roam
While Christ, the Rock, remains our home.

The locusts have none leading
As king in all their bands,
But while they’re wisely feeding
They go about in bands.
Young friend, so very much depends
On having Christians as our friends!

The last beasts we must ponder
Are lizards, tiny things,
Who still are free to wander
In palaces of kings!
Jesus, our King, in all His grace,
Invites us to His heavenly place.

God made these little creatures
    To show us how to live;
Let’s gather from those teachers
    The lessons which they give;
And, lastly, learn this from them all:
God helps us best when we feel small.


First written for Marianne when she was little, and rewritten for other young people afterwards.  But none of us are too old for these lessons, are we?