A WELL-DRESSED little child sat one morning contentedly upon a door-step without any sense of having strayed away from those who loved her and were anxiously seeking her. How came she there?
A mother took her family of six children to the sea-side for a healthful holiday. Their father was a sea-captain away on a voyage, and the mother was particularly desirous that the children should be in good health at his return.
One morning they were sent down to the beach with their buckets and spades to play and were told especially to look after the youngest, Lily, who was about two years and a half old. They were very fond of their little sister, and the mother felt she would be quite safe with them while she went to do a little shopping. The children soon became interested in their building with sand, stones and seaweed, and forgot all about Lily. When the mother reached them she said,
“Where is Lily?”
She was nowhere to be seen. They started off in every direction, and inquired of all they met whether they had seen the child, but without success. They began to think she must have walked into the sea and been carried away by one of the big waves. How the children and mother wept. While they still continued their search through the streets of the town, the mother called upon me in great distress to tell me of her loss, and to ask me to pray with her that God would be pleased to restore the child. I comforted her as well as I could, and we prayed together.
How many people, both old and young, are like little Lily. They have gone astray from God, and yet they do not know it. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and though they have never felt their need of such a loving Saviour, yet they are as really lost as Lily was.
It was not until night, after the children were asleep in bed, that the mother came round to tell me Lily was found.
How we rejoiced together, and thanked our God for hearing our prayers.
Lily had wandered up the slope that led from the sea into the main road, and no doubt, tired with her long walk, had sat down to rest upon a door-step. The kind woman of the house found her there, and seeing she looked tired and sleepy, took her inside and gave her some milk and bread and butter and put her to bed. It was not until quite late in the afternoon, when the husband came home to tea, that Lily awoke from her sleep quite refreshed and ready to have a meal with them.
Her bright little face and curly hair pleased them very much, and they would have been glad to have kept her with them longer, but they thought before night came on they had better go to the police-station and see if any inquiry had been made after the child.
“Yes,” said the police-officer, “we have been looking since morning for her.”
So a policeman was sent to take the mother to the house that had sheltered her lost darling. There was Lily, sitting on a high chair at the table, laughing and playing with her kind friends, and little knowing all the grief she had caused her mother, brothers and sisters. So she was carried home by the thankful mother, to the great joy of all the children.
Lily still lives and has now a little daughter of her own. Although she does not herself remember the day she was lost at the seaside, she has often heard the story and told it to her own little girl. She has too, long ago, found out that she was a lost sinner, and away from God, and can thank Him for sending His own Son into this world to seek and to find her. The good Shepherd went after the lost sheep “until He found it.”
The good Shepherd is seeking you, dear reader, and it will delight His heart to lay you on His shoulders and carry you home rejoicing. Will you yield yourself to His mighty love?
ML 01/22/1922