Willie had some trouble with his sister one Saturday and he did not want to forgive her. That night, after he knelt down by his mother and said his prayers, his father joined them, and said, “Willie, did you pray?”
“I said my prayers,” answered Willie.
“Yes, but did you pray?”
“I said my prayers.”
“I know you said them, but did you pray?” Willie hung his head.
“Are you angry with your sister?”
“Well she had no business to do that.”
“That has nothing to do with it; you have the wrong idea, my boy, if you think that you have prayed tonight.”
Willie was trying to feel better by saying, “I said my prayers tonight.” Sometimes we can say our prayers, just to feel good about doing it, when we aren’t really praying as God wants us to.
Willie’s father told him, “Willie, if you don’t forgive your sister, you won’t sleep tonight. Ask her to forgive you.” But Willie didn’t want to do that.
Now, Willie loves the country, and he had been talking a lot about when he could go into the country and play outside. Willie said: “Oh, I’ll sleep just fine; I’m going to think about being out in the country!”
His father said nothing more to him, and his mother and father went back downstairs. But soon Willie called to his mother and said, “Mother, please go and ask Emma if she will forgive me.” Then his father heard him speaking softly in bed, and he was praying. He said to his father, “Daddy, you were right, I could not sleep, and I cannot tell you how happy I am now.”
Messages of God’s Love 8/11/2024