JUNIOR KING’S BUSINESS edited by Martha S. Hooker
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57 links study, inspira tion and pleasure all in one handy volume. FOR OVER 60 YEARS ARNOLD 'S COMM ENTARY has been the "stand-by" for all these who study and teach.the International Uni form Sunday-school lessons. $2.25 AT YOUR BOOKSTORE OR FROM A
(L lr ió tm a ò ß a t y by Helen Frazee-Bower (For photo and personal note on the author see pages 38, 39)
he Christmas snow was fall ing, turning the early twilight to a feathery blur of white ness. Two small birds were having an argument over something that looked as though it might be good to eat. As Penny watched them from the window she heard her mother singing softly in the bed room, “Now wash me, and I shall he whiter than snow.” Penny went to her. “How could the song be true, Mother? I don’t believe anything could be whiter than the snow that is falling outdoors.” “Have you never heard the snow flake story, Penny? Did no one ever tell you how they’re made?” “I don’t think so. You tell me.” “Every single snowflake is formed around a tiny particle of dust in the air. So no matter how beautiful it looks on the outside, the heart of every snowflake is always a little dirty.” Penny smiled. “But when the Lord Jesus washes the heart, there isn’t even a tiny speck of sin left,” she said. “The song’s right after all.” “Yes, Penny, the song’s right. Shall we look at the baby’s things again?” “Let’s do, Mother. I like to so much. It’s going to be such fun having a Christmas baby. It seems the nicest time in all the year to be born.” Mother sat beside the cedar chest and Penny knelt on the floor. One by one she took out the tiny things and handed them to her mother. When they came to the shirts, Penny said, “Aren’t they cute? They look most of all like a baby.” She held one up to her cheek. “Oh, I can hardly wait,” she said.
Penny put the things back in the chest and went over to the tiny crib in the comer. “It’s such a cuddly little bed,” she said. “How the baby will love it!” Mother began singing softly, “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.” Penny listened. Suddenly she grew sober. “Why, that’s right, He didn’t, did He?” she said. “He didn’t — what?” “Have any crib for a bed. The song says it, you know. Think of our baby having a better bed than the Lord Jesus! It doesn’t seem quite right.” “No, it doesn’t,” said Mother. “I often think of such things when I remember the Christmas story.” “Tell me about the little Lord Jesus again, Mother. There isn’t any story in all the world like the Christmas story!” Mother drew her rocking chair over to the window and Penny curled up at her feet. Together they watched the drifting flakes and Mother began: “It was Christmas in Bethlehem —only of course it wasn’t. There never had been a Christmas yet because, as yet, there had been no Christ-child on earth. We do not even know exactly what time of year it was, but as the years have passed we have come to think of Christmas and the birth of the Lord Jesus as belonging together. On that night so long ago, the streets of the little city were crowd ed with people so no one paid par ticular attention to the man and woman who went about from door to door, seeking a lodging place. Everywhere the answer was the
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LIGHT AND L IFE PRESS W IN O N A LAKE, IN D IA N A
1* For one pen* ny a day you can become one of the supporters of our Is abelle Orphanage at Pusan, Korea. 2 . If you wish to invest one penny a day for the little orphans of Korea, we will send you a bank mounted with beautiful wooden figure made by our teenage boys.
3 . "F o r w here your treasure is there will your heart be also" Matt. 6:21. Write to: The Korea Gospel Mission Inc. P. 0. Box 291, Inglewood California
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THE KING 'S BUSINESS
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