Sanah had been rescued from heathen cruelties and taken to the Children’s Home at the mission station. Here he was treated kindly by the missionary who was “Mother” to the children.
Soon Sanah was loved by everyone. Mother made him her “trusty.” His duties were to sweep and clean around the mission, and to run errands for the missionary. Each morning he went into her office, before she arrived, to clean the room.
One morning while performing this work, a terrible thin happened. Sanah knocked Mother’s pretty clock off the desk and broke the crystal into many pieces.
What should he do? His first thought was to run away and return to his people. But he did not want to do that. Then he thought he might pretend that the cat broke the glass, and act as though he knew nothing about it. But how could he act a lie, when he knew it would grieve the Lord Jesus so? Sanah knew that God’s Word says, “Provide things honest in the sight of all …” (Romans 12,17).
Two miserable days passed. Sanah could think of nothing but the broken clock on the floor. The temptation was strong to lay the blame on the cat.
At last he decided to ask the man who kept the gate what to do. He felt sure he would know. “Tell her the cat knocked the clock off the desk,” the man told him, “and I will say it’s a fact, and that I saw the cat jump through the window.”
“Oh no,” cried Sanah. “That is just the thing I have been trying not to do! I will tell her the truth, and then I will go back into the world again, for she will be very angry with me.”
He entered the office. Mother was at her desk reading God’s Word when he came in. He told her just what happened, then began to cry. Quickly he turned to leave, so he would not see the angry look on her face.
“Sanah, my son, wait,” she said kindly. “Let us talk about this.” To Sanah’s surprise Mother did not seem a bit angry. She offered him a nice seat, and gave him some candy from her desk. His fears left.
“Sanah,” she began, “the truth is worth more to me than any clock in all the world. I love you because you have told the truth, and you have pleased the Lord Jesus also. The crystal of the clock can be replaced, but had you told a lie your soul would have been marred. Always tell the truth. Now, please take this clock to the jeweller and have a new crystal put on.”
Used with permission from
The Beautiful Way
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