Prepare a large cross, making it of pasteboard or of wood; it should be as large as a child could well carry. Paint one half of it black,—or stone color, if you can imitate the stone exactly,—and the other side gilt. Place the cross before the children in such a position that they can see only the black side.
Begin with telling them what Christ said about bearing our crosses. Show how he himself had to carry his cross on the way to Calvary, and set before the children a picture of that sad scene. Tell them of the heavier cross that Christ had to bear,—the weight of all the world’s sins and sorrows.
We also have crosses to bear. Let this cross represent them. Let us put names to this cross. What shall it stand for? What are some of the things that you young Christians have to bear for Christ? People’s laughing at you for trying to follow Christ? Yes, that is one cross, certainly. See; I have printed “laugh” on this card, and I will fasten it to the cross. And what are other crosses we must carry? Sickness? failure? disappointment? poverty? lameness? Here are cards with those names written upon them.
By this time the cross will be covered on its black side. You will have spoken of it all through as a heavy cross, a stone cross or iron cross. Now you call upon the children to pick out the strongest boy in their number to come and bear the cross. He comes forward and easily lifts it and carries it on his shoulder. You have him turn the golden side toward the children.
Ah, crosses are never heavy when you take them up in Christ’s strength and carry them bravely. They are never black, then, but they shine like gold. Everything about the cross is changed, when you carry it in Christ’s strength. The laughter is changed; you get strength out of it. We will throw away the label, “laugh,” and we will pin upon the black side this bright, golden label, marked “strength.” What is one good thing that will come out of our sickness, if it is borne with Christ’s strength? Patience? Yes; let us throw away “sickness,” and fasten in its place this golden label, “patience.” So proceed with the others, putting in the place of each some good thing that may come out of it, such as “courage” from “failure,” “peace” from “disappointment,” “soul wealth” from “poverty,” “soul swiftness” from “lameness.”
Close with the thought that it is Christ that makes all these changes in our crosses, and get the children to say together, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.”