“Mother will never know,” thought Flora to herself, as she took the large orange from the fruit bowl on the table, and, putting it in her pocket, went hastily up stairs.

She was expecting two or three of her little frinds to spend the day with her, and had been busily arranging the doll her kind mother had given her;  but while lingering about, waiting for them to come, she was tempted to take one of the oranges which had been placed on the table ready for dinner. She hurried from the room, but had not reached the top of the stairs before her brother’s voice stopped her, calling, “Flora, your visitors are here,” and directly there was a knock at the door, and she could hear the voices of Kate and Effie.

Flora ran quickly down stairs, but her face was flushed, and she felt miserable and ashamed as she met her young friends, and took them to the living room to speak with her mother.

Flora tried to laugh and talk happily along with her friends, but she could not forget how wrong she had been; and the dish of oranges sitting right before her on the table kept her sin ever in her mind. Besides this, not having been able to eat the orange she had taken, she was in constant fear lest she would pull it out of her pocket accidentally with her handkerchief, and thus be covered with shame in the sight of her young friends.

Poor Flora! She had sinned against God, and against her kind mother, and had spoiled all her afternoon’s pleasure for the sake of an orange.  At dinner time she could not raise her head to meet her mother’s glance, who saw that something was wrong with her, and who said very kindly, “Flora, dear, you are scarcely eating anything—are you not well?” This made Flora ready to cry with shame and repentance. Her conscience was too tender to allow her to be happy while her sin remained unconfessed.

All afternoon they played happy games, in which everybody joined. After this the little girls went home, and Flora was left alone with her mother and father while the younger children were getting ready for bed.

Several times she had thought she had dropped the orange in some of the rough movements of the games, and had gone more than once quietly into a corner of the room to feel in her pocket if it was still there. Yes, it was quite safe enough. “How could I be so wicked and greedy?” thought Flora; “Mother always gives me as much fruit as is best for me, and yet I have made myself a thief, and after all have not eaten the orange, or been able to put it back, and it has spoiled all my fun this afternoon.”  She sat still, miserable and unhappy for a little longer, and then her resolution was made—she would tell her mother before she went to sleep that night.

Slowly she walked towards the window where her mother was sitting, her heart beating rapidly. “Well, Flora,” said Mrs. Marshall kindly, “you seem tired and out of spirits tonight; have you come to wish me goodnight?”

“Oh Mother!” sobbed Flora, “I have come to tell you how wicked I have been, and how very sorry and miserable I am;” and hiding her face in the folds of her mother’s dress, she told the whole story.

“Here it is, mother,” she said, pulling the orange out of her pocket, “and I don’t think I will ever see another orange again without remembering this bad afternoon.”

Very seriously, but gently, her mother spoke to her about her sin, and the consequences it had brought upon her. “I shall not punish you, Flora,” she said; “your conscience has been a sufficient punishment. I have watched your pale, troubled face all afternoon and would have wondered what was wrong with you if I had not seen you steal the orange when I passed the door, which was slightly open.  Knowing what you had done, I was not surprised that you seemed unhappy all afternoon.”

“But can you forgive me mother, and believe that I will never do such a thing again?”

“I will forgive you, Flora, because you have confessed your sin to me; but remember there is God in heaven whose forgiveness you must ask as well as mine, whose eye is always upon you, and who is grieved when you do wrong.  Go now, and before you sleep tonight, ask God to pardon you, and cleanse you from this and every other sin for the sake of His Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

With a sorrowful, repentant heart Flora went to her room, and kneeling there asked God to forgive all her sins, and to help her for the future to resist temptation; but it was a long time before she forgot the stolen orange and how miserable she had been that afternoon.

Although we may think that stealing something like an orange is just a small sin, remember Adam and Eve also stole a fruit and in God’s eyes it was not small. In the Bible we read, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Luke 16:10

“It is transgression in the little things that first leads the soul away from God. By their one sin in partaking of the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve opened the floodgates of woe upon the world. Some may regard that transgression as a very little thing; but we see that its consequences were anything but small.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 573

If you try to hide your sin, God sees it and will work on your conscience to try to help you see your sin and how terrible it is. If you ignore your conscience, then the next time you do the sin, it will not appear so grievous to you.  Remember Jesus said, “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” Luke 8:17

“There is no excuse for sin or for indolence. Jesus has led the way, and He wishes us to follow in His steps. He has suffered; He has sacrificed as none of us can, that He might bring salvation within our reach. We need not be discouraged. Jesus came to our world to bring divine power to man, that through His grace, we might be transformed into His likeness.” –Faith and Works, p. 49–50

The only way for true happiness to return is, as Flora found out, when the sin is confessed. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” Psalm 32:1. Flora also decided to ask God to help her resist temptation in the future.

We need to pray the same prayer also—with the help of Jesus we can overcome every temptation that is brought to us by Satan in the future. When Flora sinned, she was miserable. If she had not sinned, she would have had a happy time with her friends, but the happiness returned when she confessed. Sin never leads to happiness and peace until the sin is confessed and in our heart, put away.