A story for every day...
A thief in an orchard.
A child had climbed the wall of an orchard to steal fruit. But first he turned around to see if he was being watched. Suddenly one of his friends, perched in a tree in a nearby garden, called out to him, “You looked to the right, to the left, in front of you and behind you; why didn’t you also look at the sky?” The little thief understood that his comrade wanted to remind him of the all-seeing God: and as if struck by lightning, he ran away with all his legs. He certainly did not soon forget the truth, that one cannot escape the gaze of God.
The memory of God’s omniscience turns us away from sin.
The abandoned apples.
A child was sent by his father to his neighbors to do an errand. When he entered the room, he found no one there, but a basket full of splendid apples. Immediately the evil thought came to him: you can steal some fruit, nobody will see you. But the thought of God held him back and he said to himself in a loud voice: “Oh no! I will not take anything, for God sees me.” Immediately the neighbor, sitting behind the stove, appeared and said to him, “You are a good child. Take some fruit, as long as you want it.” If the child had stolen, he would undoubtedly have been chastised; so he doubly experienced how advantageous it is to think that God sees everything.
The remembrance of God’s presence turns us away from sin, keeps us from offending Him and spares us His punishments.
