This story is about two little girls, six and eight years old, who went with their mother to spend their summer vacation at the seaside.
One morning they went for a walk along the top of the cliffs. The mother got tired and wanted to rest, so sat down ander the shade of a tree while the children ran over the field picking buttercups and daisies.
Before the little ones went to pick the flowers, their mother made them promise to come back to her as soon as ever she called out the one word COME!
“I will not call you a minute before I want you, but you must come at once the moment I do call you.”
These children were trained to do what they were told, and not allowed to have their own way, as so many children are now. After a time, as the youngest was just stooping to pick a flower, such a lovely butterfly flew off it, and she said, “Oh, I’ll catch you, Mr. Butterfly!” But the butterfly flitted about just above her head, and seemed to be teasing her. He did not want to be caught, and when she said, “I’ll have you,” I almost fancy he must have laughed at her and said, “But you can’t catch me, little girl!” So she took off her sun bonnet and chased him up and down the field, and many times nearly caught him, but he always managed to escape! On, on, on went the little girl, till her sister noticed that she was very near the edge of the precipice, and ran frightened to her mother with such a startled look upon her face. Words failed her, and she was white and trembling.
The mother jumped up, and seeing her darling child close to the edge of the precipice, she cried out loudly the one word COME!! The child turned round immediately, and ran to her mother: “Oh, Mother, I nearly caught such a pretty butterfly; if you had not called me so soon I believe I should have had him, but I knew that I must come the moment you called.”
Her mother led her to the edge of the precipice, and said, “If my darling had not come at once when she heard me call COME, she would now have been dashed to pieces on the rocks below.”
Dear children, Jesus is calling you to come and be saved, for all things are now ready, and He wants you to come NOW! He promises to wash all your sins away, and make you as white as snow.
But how many there are who are running after the butterfly pleasures of the world; things that cannot possibly satisfy their souls; and they forget that any moment they may fall over the precipice from time into eternity, and be lost forever!
ML 10/18/1959