SUKUMARI, a little girl in India, was not allowed to play nor was she allowed to work, because she was the girl priest of the village. She wore a leather necklace, the sign of her priesthood. Her hair, hanging in great disorder around her face and large, dark, sad eyes, was considered holy. Yet she envied her sisters with their neatly done hair and the other children who could play and laugh and help with the housework. Sukumari was only ten years old when she became the priest of the village. Her chief duty was to keep the goddess of cholera in good humor so that that terrible disease would not come into the village. Day after day she went to the rock outside the village from which she could see the whole area, and talked to the goddess. But she never got a reply.
One day, instead of the slow pace which is becoming to a girl priest, she was seen running to the rock. There she knelt down, and raising her hands she cried desperately: "What have I done that you have sent the cholera into the village?" She cried bitterly and called the goddess to help her. She was thinking especially of her beloved mother and grandmother. Would they also die as so many had already? A great fear took hold of her. Those were dreadful days, when so many died from the awful disease . Sukumari wept much. But the cholera did not stay very long and the villagers ascribed it to Sukumari's prayers. But Sukumari became more and more sad. It seemed unbearable to her to be a girl priest. She tore at the leather necklace, she tore her holy hair; but it was of no use, for from birth she was destined to be a girl priest.
Late one afternoon when she was sitting on the rock, she heard strange voices and then saw two men with white faces coming toward her. They looked astonished at that little sad face and the long uncombed hair. Sukumari was afraid and began to tremble. But the men with such kind voices asked her her name, where she lived and what she was doing there on the rock.
She answered their questions and looking into their kind eyes took confidence and told them all her misery and her longing for a better land. They asked her to come with them and show them where she lived. When they came to the market they stood still and began to preach to the people who were gradually gathering around.
They talked about a better land and about a Father in heaven who loves sinners. Sukumari listened to every word. That night she forgot to pray to the goddess of the cholera and talked with confidence to the Father in heaven. Each day the missionaries preached on the market place and Sukumari could not hear enough about the love of God who gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem sinful men. Even the grandmother listened to the preaching.
When the missionaries were about to leave they asked if they could take Sukumari with them into a mission school where she could learn more about the Word of God. Her grandmother said, "No." And the mother said: "We need a girl priest." But the father asked: "Sukumari, do you want to go?" She did not answer, but her eyes were shining like stars with joy. Oh, to go where there is no cholera goddess, to play and sing like other children and above all to hear more about the true God of love. She went about as though she were in a dream. The leather necklace was gone, the wild hair was neatly combed and she came to the mission school and drank in the Word of God. She found out that though she was a sinner, the Lord Jesus had borne the punishment in her place on the cross, and by believing in Him she was now a child of God. Her sins were washed away in His precious )load. When she was baptized, she changed her name to "Jesus' pearl." Her life now belonged to the Saviour who had bought her with such a price. To follow, love and serve Him was now her happiness.
Messages of the Love of God 3/9/1958