­ I’ll Be a Sunbeam

Scripture Verse

May they who love You be like the sun. Judges 5:31

Introduction

portrait
Ellen Talbot (1861–1950)

Words: Ellen A. (Nell­ie) Tal­bot, 1898. That year, Tal­bot at­tend­ed the world’s Third Sun­day School Con­ven­tion as a del­egate from Ports­mouth, Eng­land. While there, she was in­spired by the child­ren of her host to write this song (Hym­na­ry, ac­cessed 6 Apr 2026). It ap­peared in Make His Praise Glor­ious, ed­it­ed by Ed­win O. Ex­cell (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: E. O. Ex­cell, 1900) num­ber 167.

Music: Ed­win O. Ex­cell, 1900 (🔊 pdf nwc). He de­di­cat­ed this song to his grand­son, Ed­win O. Ex­cell, Jr.

portrait
Edwin Excell (1851–1921)

Lyrics

Jesus wants me for a sun­beam,
To shine for Him each day;
In ev­ery way try to please Him,
At home, at school, at play.

Refrain

A sun­beam, a sun­beam,
Jesus wants me for a sun­beam;
A sun­beam, a sun­beam,
I’ll be a sun­beam for Him.

Jesus wants me to be lov­ing,
And kind to all I see;
Showing how plea­sant and hap­py
His lit­tle one can be.

Refrain

I will ask Je­sus to help me
To keep my heart from sin,
Ever re­flect­ing His good­ness,
And al­ways shine for Him.

Refrain

I’ll be a sun­beam for Je­sus;
I can if I but try;
Serving Him mo­ment by mo­ment,
Then live with Him on high.

Refrain