“PLEASE, Mary, do not turn out the light,” said a little girl of six years old to her kind nurse, who had just put her to bed, and was about to leave her in the dark.
“Your mother does not wish you to have a light now, for you are six years old,” was the nurse’s reply; “but I will be in the next room, and if you want anything, just call me, and I promise to come immediately.”
But little Emily would not be comforted, and began to cry. Presently there was a step upon the stairs, and the child heard a kind voice saying,
“Why does my little girl cry?” Little Emily then felt ashamed of herself, but at length she sobbed out,
“Mary has turned out the light and left me in the dark.”
“And what harm can the darkness do you? I see,” said her father, “you trust to the light. What, cannot my little girl trust the Lord Jesus?”
“O, papa, indeed, indeed, I. do trust Jesus,”
“Well, my dear, if you did, you would not cry for a light, ‘for the darkness and the light are both alike to God,’ and He is just as near at one time as at the other.”
When her father was gone, and Emily found herself alone once more, her heart beat very fast, and she was nearly crying again, but then she whispered,
“Please, Lord, take care of me, and help me not to be afraid,” and saying this over and over again, she fell asleep.
Now a great part of our lives are spent as it were in the dark. That is, we cannot see what is going to take place; we do not know what even a day will bring forth. What a happy thing, then, it is to know that our Father is caring for us.
ML 08/22/1937