From the children’s ward in a hospital, even early in the morning little Minna could be heard singing her songs. Although she was suffering and quite weak, yet she could not be silent. She was the sunbeam of the house.
Minna was a happy child of God. She had Christian parents, and her brothers and sisters knew the Saviour, too. She herself had been led to the Lord Jesus by her Sunday school teacher, who also had taught her the nice hymns, which she so loved to sing.
Suddenly this happy child became sick. After tenderly caring for her at home for almost a year, and seeing her condition did not improve, but rather grew worse, her parents took her to the hospital. The doctor ascertained spinal-meningitis, a very painful affliction. The child lay for months with her back in a hard cast, which allowed little moving about, yet she bore it patiently like a little lamb. Never did she utter any complaints. Joyfully would she ever sing her favorite hymns, which cheered so many of the patients in the next wards. To please Minna, she was sometimes carried into the adjoining wards, where she would then sing with a clear voice,
“Jesus, my Lord would have me
To be a bright sunbeam here,
Which shines its light from day to day,
Alone for Him, who is so dear.”
While thus singing, in spite of her bodily weakness, she looked so happy, that it often deeply touched the hearts of the patients. Some of them, when feeling sad and depressed, would quietly go to the small children’s ward, sit down next to her bed, and listen to her singing.
In this way, the little sufferer let her light shine brightly, because the Lord Jesus filled her heart with glaess to overflowing. His salvation and love were sufficient for her to forget all earthly suffering, and even to help those who did not yet know Him.
Do you, little friend, thus love the Saviour, and seek to live for Him, and to gladden His heart, and the hearts of others?
ML 10/24/1943