Let me tell you today about a sick lady I know. She is ninety- three years old. That is pretty old, isn’t it? Well, for the past fifteen years this old lady has never beem able to leave her bed. Day and night, day and night, for fifteen long years, this poor old lady has been lying in bed. You would be surprised to see how happy she is. She never finds fault. She never complains about God. She spends a lot of time each day saying prayers.
The old lady likes company. She is delighted to have people come to see her. She doesn’t like it if her friends stay away. And do you know what she does? She has a prayer book with the prayers printed in big letters. Into the prayer book she puts a piece of paper on the first day of each month. She makes her daughter draw a circle on the piece of paper. Whenever someone comes to see the old lady, she makes her daughter write the person’s name inside the circle. But the friends who do not come to see her, their names are written outside the circle.
Now, why does the old lady do this? Here is why. The old lady says hundreds of prayers everyday. If her friends visit her, their names are written in the circle and she prays for them. If her friends do not visit her during the month, their names are not written in the circle and the old lady will not pray for them the month they miss seeing her. That’s how the little old lady keeps track of her friends. Believe me, everybody tries to see her at least once a month, so that they can get their names inside the circle. The old lady calls this scheme of hers, “My Circle of Friends.”
I think that God does something just like that. I think that God has a “Circle of Friends.” Wouldn’t it be too bad to find our names written outside God’s circle? But I’m afraid that that is just what we would find, if we could see God’s circle.
You know, boys and girls, our Lord is just like this old lady. Our Lord also has a “Circle of Friends.” Up in Heaven, our Lord writes down in a big book-and it must be a very big book- the names of all His friends. He writes down the names of those who do not forget to pray to Him often, the names of those who do not forget to visit Him in church. Boys and Girls, I think this is a great idea. Just think, down here on earth, maybe, nobody knows or cares who we are, and yet, up in Heaven, God and the angels know who we are. We are so important that God in Heaven writes our name in His Book of Frinds. We belong to God’s “Circle of Friends” and that makes us mighty important.
Now, what about those people whose names are not written in God’s Book? Why, are they the people who always forgot God. He doesn’t write your name in His “Circle of Friends.” How terrible that is!
Here is God, locked up in our church all day long, and all through the night. How many of us boys and girls ever think of stopping in the church to see God, to
pay Him a visit? Don’t you think that God ever gets lonesome? Certainly, He does. And God must do an awful lot of wondering. He must think of all the nice
things that He has done for us. How He made us, and gave us such a good father and mother, how He keeps us well and warm and gives us enough to eat. How He made Holy Communion for us, and how He suffered and died on the cross for us. He must think of all the things and God must wonder and wonder. It must be pretty hard for God to understand us. He waits and waits for us, and we never come.
I don’t think that any little boy or girl wants to be mean to God. It’s just that we don’t think and are very selfish. We think only about ourselves. We don’t think about God.
Now don’t say that you haven’t got time! You are able to go to school everyday, and the school is right next to God’s House. Why don’t you stop in and see Him. It would only take a few minutes and it would make God very happy. You have a lot of time after that to play ball or with your friends. God doesn’t expect you to stay with Him an hour. He knows that you like to play, but can’t you give God just a little of your time?
Let’s get into the habit of stopping in the church when we are near it. Even though you only stop for one minute to talk with God, it will make God happy.
And remember, every time you stop, God will write your name inside His Circle. And that’s just where we want to be – inside the Circle of God’s Friends!
