Robert Louis Stevenson was a 19th century Scottish novelist and poet. His work includes thrillers like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the adventure tale Treasure Island, as well as the more innocent offerings in A Child’s Garden of Verses (“the world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings”).
Growing up in Edinburgh, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis which kept him isolated from other children. Often alone, he was often lonely too. For many hours of every day, he would stare out the window, face pressed against the glass, taking in the activity on his street and in his neighborhood.
You may have heard this story about a famous moment in Robert Louis Stevenson’s childhood: at one point, when the day was ending and the shadows of evening were replacing the light of the sun, he was in his usual place and staring out the window in his usual way. The sun set, replaced by nightfall.
Far away, in the dusk, the boy could make out the figure of a person walking down the street. It was the local lamplighter, who was going from lamp to lamp and creating small orbs of light. Entranced, he called to his mother. “Look!” he exclaimed, “someone is punching holes in the darkness!”
Prayer by prayer, step by step, action by action, may we do the same—remembering always that it doesn’t take much to illuminate our small corner of the world, and it doesn’t take much to notice the efforts of others, and magnify them.
