Billy said, "Mother, what is wrong with me?"

Mother said, "Why nothing is wrong with you dear, why do you ask?"

"I haven't got any pin," said Billy, "and all the other kids have one. Jimmy has a scout pin, Dick has a class ring, Mary has a locket and I don't have anything."

"Well, those things just say that they belong to something. You'll have one some day."

"But I want a lapel pin. Any thing now. I want a lapel pin. Any kind of a pin."

"You have to do something to earn the scout pin or the Sunday School pin or most any kind of pin. The pin stands for what you belong to or what you believe in," counseled the mother.

Billy was expressing a basic need of wanting to belong, of being identified with something of which he might be proud. It is a worthy desire.

God wants us to belong to His Kingdom. To identify ourselves with Him. Christians are expected to identify themselves with Christ. Jesus said, "He who confesses Me before men, him will I confess before my Father in Heaven and he who denies Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father in Heaven."

Sound lives are built through identification with sound principles and good organizations. Americans declare their loyalty, as they believe in and practice democracy. It is our duty to vote, pay taxes, serve our community and mankind.

Billy could have been given a little flag to wear on his lapel. A lesson in identification with American principles was opportune for the mother.