One evening Helen was whistling gaily as she came up the path of their summer cabin, carrying a pail of milk. It was quite dark—so dark that she could scarcely see Nip and Tuck, the fluffy kitten twins that came tumbling down the path to meet her.
Laughingly she picked up Nip, the first kitten to reach her. In a few seconds the other kitten was beside her too.
"Now, how am I to carry you both, and the pail of milk too?" Helen asked aloud as she put down her pail and put out her hand toward the second kitten.
Suddenly she realized that there was something strange about the kitten. Even in the dark he did not seem just like Tuck. Drawing her hand back quickly she looked at him carefully. The little animal close beside her on the path moved a little, and Helen could see how bushy his tail was, and yes!—he had white stripes down his back!
"Oh, Oh! Mr. Skunk, I hope you’ll be polite enough to excuse us!" thought Helen. She held her breath as she carefully picked up her pail, backed away a few steps and then gave the little woods kitten a wide circle as she passed him. When she glanced back he had disappeared in the dark.
"Was that ever a mistake to make!" she told her mother a few moments later. "I thought surely it was the kitten, and oh! I came so close to picking him up! Just think if I had!"
Many funny things happen, and often sad things too, when something is mistaken for something else. Perhaps you could tell me of something you have mistaken, too, if I were able to ask you. Let’s think for a moment of a serious mistake that many are making every day!
Sometimes boys and girls seem like Christians when they are not! Do you know what I mean? Perhaps they go to Sunday School, try to be obedient to their parents, play fair with other children, and try to help others when they can. Perhaps they fool almost everyone into thinking that they really are saved, but down in their hearts they know that they are not what they seem to be at all. They know that they are sinners, and God knows it too. Are you one of these?
Perhaps you have even tried to make yourself think that you are all right and tried not to listen to the voice that tells you that you need the Savior. Remember, "Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:33Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)).