The ten buoys

Charlotte Richmond

Nathan lives in a city beside a wide river that flows many miles to the sea. He sees the river every week when he and his family cross a bridge on the way to the Christian Science Church and Sunday School.

Once Nathan went for a boat ride on the river. He noticed some markers bobbing in the water. They're called "buoys," and they float on top of the water. They are set out by the United States Coast Guard to show where the water is deep enough for boats to go ahead safely up or down the river.

As you go up the river, every once in a while there is a red buoy on the right or starboard side of the channel and a green buoy on the left or port side. Boats going upstream must keep close to the red buoys. Those coming downstream must keep close to the green buoys. If a boatman obeys these rules and stays on the proper side of the channel, he won't collide with a boat coming from the opposite direction. He won't get too close to shore or hit any sand bars or rocks, either.

Nathan told his Sunday School teacher about the buoys. They decided the Ten Commandments, which the class was studying in the Bible, were like ten buoys. Just as buoys guide sailors safely through the river channel, the Commandments show us what's right and what's wrong. They say, "Watch it! Keep close to us! Here's the safe way—the right way!" They protect us when we follow them. Then things go better with our friends. We don't get stuck in troubles that keep us from doing the good things we really want to do.

There are some Bible stories that tell how following the Commandments kept people safe when trouble came.

Daniel, for instance, refused to give up worshiping the one God even when he knew King Darius would put him in the lions' den.^{See Dan. 6:4–10, 16–23 .} He wasn't afraid of the lions, because he trusted God, and the lions didn't hurt him a bit. You could say that the buoys in the river that Daniel was keeping close to were the First and the Third Commandments.^{Ex. 20:3, 7 . "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ... Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."}

The next time you read a Bible story, maybe you'll see how following the Commandments kept other people safe and out of trouble.

And, by the way, some buoys have a bell attached to them so sailors can hear them a long way off and in foggy weather. Some have a light that flashes. If you hear a warning bell, like your conscience telling you to do what's right, or get a bright idea about a good way to help someone, pay attention. You'll be following the Commandments, and just like the buoys, they will lead safely forward.

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