Bruce did not need an alarm clock this morning. A single thought broke through his sleep and made him sit upright. This was the day! Today he was going to have his tonsils out.
Of course he wasn’t really scared—it was just that it was all a new experience. He wasn’t a bit sure he was going to like it. He didn’t even get any breakfast.
By ten o’clock Bruce was in the hospital writing his name on the register. His eyes were wide as he followed a nurse to his room. Then he was bathed and given a white hospital gown and tucked into a high white bed. Everything smelled of antiseptic.
“You see, there really is nothing to be afraid of, for you will soon be asleep and when you wake up, your tonsils will be out.”
“But I want you to stay right with me, won’t you?” he pleaded.
“If they will let me,” I promised.
Soon a stretcher rolled through his door, and Bruce slid over onto it for a ride upstairs to the operating room. As we came to the elevator the nurse said to me, “This is as far as you may go—only those who are in surgically sterile garments are allowed in the operating room.”
Bruce’s eyes fluttered open in alarm. “Aren’t you going with me?”
“Sorry, Bruce! They will not permit me to go any further—but I will wait right here for you, and I will pray for you.”
The door clanged shut, and he was gone. “The Lord Jesus will be with you—doors cannot bar Him. He is an all-the-way-home Saviour, who will never let His own down till they are safely at home in the glory,” I said to myself.
My thoughts followed the dear little boy who was really very brave. I thought too of the nurses and doctors up there in their sterile uniforms, worn in safeguard against germs and disease. These things are very necessary in such places, but though ever so clean they cover only the outside. They are like our own righteousnesses which are only “filthy rags” in God’s sight. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us and make us fit for His presence. How wonderful to be cleansed within, clothed in the perfect righteousness of God, and then to know that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Bruce was still asleep when the elator door once more opened and he was rolled back to his room, and put to bed like a weary, little lamb. How thankful we were to the Lord for His goodness to our dear lad, and we trust he too will be among the white-robed company of heaven who will sing the Saviour’s praises.
ML 09/19/1954