eunn ie d3e^an to c J L I s Len
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By Barbara Candee*
L ITTLE skipping steps, dancing gold en curls and sunny ways: that is our Jeannie. We called her “ Our Little Bubbling Brook.” We parked our trailer in the yard of an old house. There was a well with fine, cool water, to which people of the town often came, and big, spreading trees to provide shade for our trailer. Down the pretty lane lived Jeannie, and: also some other children. Of course wa looked forward to getting acquainted with all the children, for we had come to help in the Sunday school in that little Western mining town. Soon we got ac quainted with Jeannie, and the first thing we knew she was coming over to visit us quite often. We had some tiny little tin plates, just the right size for» a little girl’s tea party. How she enjoyed pouring water from one cup to the other! At first she didn’t know very much about Sunday school, for she had only gone once in a while, but soon she was going every Sunday and wouldn’t miss it for anything. During her regular visits to our trailer she liked to play with our books and tracts. Sometimes she played she had a Bible Book store, and would sell a book to imaginary people who came in to buy. Between customers she sang a merry little song. We surely enjoyed having her around. However, one thing about Jeannie caused us much sorrow. She never wanted to listen to the lesson given in Sunday school. Of course she wasn’t a very big girl, and so we tried to be patient. But we realized she knew very little about the Lord Jesus, and if she would only listen we felt she would learn some truths that would help her little life, so we talked to our Heavenly Father about this matter. This is the way He answered our prayers: One Sunday Jeannie had dinner with us in our trailer home. After the dinner dishes were done, Jeannie and I took a walk in the country. There were birds and butterflies and all the things God had made for us to enjoy. Soon Jeannie found a bush which interested her. It was gray, with long cruel thorns on it. She picked a piece and gave it to me. “ Do you know what these thorns remind me of?” I asked her. Without waiting for an answer, I replied, “ These thorns make me think of the cruel thorns which wicked men placed upon the head of our dear Lord Jesus when He died for us upon the Cross of Calvary.” Simply I told her the story of the Cross. Jeannie’s face became sad and thoughtful, but she said little. Back in the trailer, the thorny branch was placed in a safe, high place F E B R U A R Y . 1 9 5 3
that it might serve as a reminder to pray for lttle Jeannie. One Sunday, some time later, the children gathered into the little white building for Sunday school. One of the boys rang the bell in the steeple. The opening exercises came first, then the lesson. Much prayer had gone up, that the Lord would especially direct in the giving of the lesson, for it was a heart burden that a number of the children would really understand, and be led to open their hearts to the Saviour. The lesson was on the cross. As the story was begun, a thorny branch was held before the children, the same one that Jeannie had picked. As the story was told, her eyes were fastened on her teacher. At the close of the story, the invitation was given to the children to come and stand with the teacher if they wanted to take the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. This Sunday Jeannie had list ened, listened to every word. As the in vitation was given, Jeannie held out her arms and went right to her teacher. She wanted the Lord Jesus to be her Saviour! Just a little girl, but big enough to know what sin was, big enough to understand what Jesus did, and big enough to feel she needed the Lord Jesus to be with her all the time. Jeannie’s earnest decision was a testimony to others, and several came forward that morning. So this was the way Jeannie began to listen. After she let the Lord Jesus come into her heart she was the very best little listener you ever saw. Her attention helped her friends to give good attention, too. Jeannie’s mother said, “I think she must listen very well, for every Sunday she comes home and tells me the story. She gets it straight, too, I think.” Say, boys and girls, how do YOU listen? If you don’t like to listen, maybe you need to let the Lord Jesus come into your heart and be your Saviour, as Jeannie did. *B iola ’35. Birthdays and Hearts February is our shortest month, and yet it holds many important dates for those of you who are in school. Why, this is the month when the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lin coln are remembered, isn’t it? And this is the month, too, when you have a Val entine box at school and fill . it with many colored hearts for your school mates. Yes, February is the month for birthdays and hearts!
By Martha S. Hooker
Of course each of you ca'n tell me the day and month of your birthday. Some of you may have yours in February— perhaps on the very days when we are remembering George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. But, boys and girls, have you ever had a second birthday? Let us see what is meant. Your first birthday is the date when you came into your home as a child of your mother and father isn’t it? You had life, and could cry and move. How happy your coming made your parents! You became a member of the family and re ceived a name. Yes, it was a very happy day in your home when you were born. But your second birthday—oh, what an important date it is in the life of every boy or girl! It marks the time when you became a member of God’s family by receiving the Lord Jesus as your own Saviour, for “ as many as re ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). This second birthday, then, is the date on which you opened your heart’s door and let the Lord Jesus come in to make your sinful heart pure and white, to wash away all of your sins in His pre cious blood, and to give you the gift of everlasting life. Your name, too, was entered in God’s family book, “ the Lamb’s book of life.” It was then that you received a new name, the name of “ Christian,” and became a “new crea tion” in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17, R.V., margin). Now if there is a boy or girl who is reading our Junior page who has had only one birthday, won’t you let today become your second birthday? The Lord Jesus is knocking at your heart’s door, longing to come in and be your Saviour. He is saying: “ Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I vnll come in” (Rev. 3:20). Ask Him to come in today, boys and girls, and then you, too, will have two birthdays and a heart washed white as snow in the-blood of the Lord Jesus. —M.S.H. Pag« Seventeen
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