of these possibilities.

"The direction and degree of development are largely determined by
nurture."

Every possibility in a life, unless it die out, must develop either
upward or downward, toward the best or worst. This development, whether
in a plant or a boy, depends on what is given the life to work with and
the use that is made of it, or, stated in more dignified terms--the
development is a result of influences that come to a life and the
response made to them by activity. The sort of influences and the sort
of response given will determine the sort of development. When some one
is consciously endeavoring to make both outer influences and the inner
working of the life the best possible, it is called nurture.

The responsibility that grows out of this thought of nurture is almost
crushing, yet its opportunity is sublime. To make a boy strong for his
life work, because the right word was spoken at the critical moment, the
encouragement given just when his purpose was faltering, to help a girl
reach glorious young womanhood because the inspiration came as she stood
at the parting of the ways--surely this, in a very real sense, is
working with God. The story of almost every life of marked power,
reveals a human touch at the cross roads. Is this one meaning in the
Master's words, "Inasmuch as ye did it," or "Inasmuch as ye did it not?"
"I would have been on the foreign mission field seven years ago," said a
splendid young man, "had not my Sunday School teacher laughed at me when
I told him my new born desire. I expect to go now, but what of those
seven years?"

If the home and the church should begin at once to obey God's command