At the close of the evening service in an orphanage in Scotland, a thousand children sat with bowed heads and softly and sweetly sang:
Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me;
Bless Thy little lamb tonight;
Through the darkness be Thou near me;
Keep me safe till morning light.”
The writer of this little hymn, Mary Lundie, as a child, was never strong, and from her earliest years, she had a very sweet and earnest disposition. Once, as a child of four, her brother, Cork, struck her in a fit of temper, but she immediately turned her other cheek to him saying, “There, Corie!” The angry boy dropped his uplifted hand. When she was asked who taught her such a thing, she replied, “I heard Daddy read it from the Bible one morning.”
Then one Sunday morning, Mary startled her parents by asking them to let her eat her bread without butter so that she could give the savings from her self-denial to the missionary fund.
At a very early age of 13, she was permitted to partake of the Lord’s supper, for she had for years come to know Him as her Saviour and Friend.
When she grew older, she was very happily married to a fine young Christian man, but her wedded life was very short, for she passed away at the age of 25 years.
She composed many hymns for her two children, and she will be long and affectionately remembered as the writer of “Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me.”
Another verse she wrote as her morning prayer was,
“I thank Thee, Lord, for quiet rest;
And for Thy care of me;
Oh let me through this day be blest
And kept from harm by Thee.”
ML-06/19/1977