Bobbie was not strong. He had never been able to take long walks or climb trees like most of the boys he knew. A very painful disease in one of his hips had made the poor little fellow so lame that he was obliged to walk on crutches.
Still Bobbie was able to get to Sunday school, and he dearly loved to listen to the faithful, earnest words of his teacher. The seed thus sown soon bore fruit, and he confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus as his own trusted Saviour.
Soon after Bobbie’s conversion, he and his brothers were playing with a large dog, when, though only meaning it for play, it jumped upon our little friend with such force that he fell to the ground.
A cry of pain brought his mother to his side. Lifting him gently in her arms, she laid him on his bed. Then finding that he seemed badly hurt, she sent for the doctor, who said Bobbie’s leg was broken in two places, and must be set at once. Setting the bone hurt the little boy very much, but he bore the pain without murmur. Once when the kind doctor, who saw by his face how much he suffered, said, “You may say ‘O’ if you want to, little man.”
“Doctor, may I sing?” Bobbie asked. And when the Doctor said, “Yes,” Bobbie began to sing in a low, sweet voice:
“This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Saviour all the day long.”
He kept on singing till the broken limb was set and bandaged. So there was praise which was unchecked by pain, and a song in the presence of suffering, and thus dear Bobbie let his light shine brightly for the Lord Jesus.
“Jesus bids us shine,
Upon all around;
Many kinds of darkness,
In the world abound.
Sin and want and sorrow,—
So we must shine,
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.”
ML 07/24/1938