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A Bedtime Incident

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 25, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 47.

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A Bedtime Incident

By Mrs. L. Flora Plummer

MRS. L. FLORA PLUMMER
“I DON’T want to say my prayers.”
“Robbie, you must say them. Jesus won’t love you if you don’t say your prayers. Now come here and kneel right down and say them.”
“I don’t want to say them, and I’m not going to.”
“Well, I shall tell mama, and she will make you say them. Mama, Robbie won’t say his prayers!”
Mrs. Kent appeared in the doorway. Her clear eyes taking in the scene at once,—Robbie, irritated and angry, his sister, Jessie, anxious but tactless,—and in her calm, soothing way she said, “Never mind, Jessie, just let Robbie do as he chooses.”
Jessie looked at her mother in surprise, but passed out of the room and spent the evening studying her lessons. Mrs. Kent busied herself about the room, saying nothing to Robbie for some time. After a while she called him to her, and taking the little five-year-old in her arms, began to talk to him pleasantly about the things they had enjoyed that day. It had been a beautiful day, all nature rejoicing in the bright sunlight. A trip to the woods with Robbie and Jessie had afforded the children the keenest pleasure. Gradually Mrs. Kent led the little boy’s mind to think of the goodness of our Heavenly Father in giving us so much to enjoy. Then she said, “I thanked God this morning for this new day, and asked him to help me to enjoy it and to take care of me all day. Tonight I will thank him for the happy day I have had, and ask him to care for me through the night. I do not want to live a single day without asking Jesus to love me and care for me.”
Robbie looked sober. “Did you ask him to take care of me, mama?”
“O, yes, dear. But Jesus likes to have us ask him for ourselves. He listens to hear us ask him, and he knows when we do not ask him.”
“Won’t Jesus take care of me unless I ask him?” said Robbie.
“Jesus gives us many blessings that we do not ask for, but he wants us to ask him for the things that we need, and to thank him for all that he does for us. He hears us when we pray, and he misses our prayers when we do not pray.”
Other questions were asked, but Mrs. Kent held steadily to the one thought, that the little man might get it clearly. She repeated very often the words, “Jesus hears us when we pray,” and, “Jesus knows when we do not pray.”
“Mama, I want to say my prayers,” said Robbie, slipping down from her lap and kneeling at her feet.
“Very well, my son,” said Mrs. Kent. And the victory was gained, and rightly gained. It was a long time before Robbie needed a repetition of the lesson.
Takoma Park, D. C.