"God bless Mommy and Daddy, and God bless Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

“God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, and God bless Harry and Ron and Hermione. Oh, and I pray that Voldemort doesn’t get the Elder Wand.”

From Harry Potter--Spoiler Alert!

The typical bedtime prayer. . .with a few twists. It’s not Candid Camera, either.

It’s actually what I think about praying.

And it happened again just last Wednesday when I was at a prayer meeting at my church. I was thinking of different prayer requests—my co-workers brother has kidney failure, a friend was taken in for a bacterial infection—when I suddenly added: “and Peeta was captured by the Capital.”

Whoa. Where did that come from?

Well, I had read the first two books of The Hunger Games trilogy in the past three days (all the credit goes to my sister, Carolyn).



An obviously computer generated
shot from The Hunger Games



I was so intensely engrossed in the series, the characters had become real.

But, wait, don’t leave me yet. I love fiction, and I think this is a great thing.

It just made me think—Katniss and Peeta (and Johanna and Beetee and Gale. . .) came to my mind before other real people in my life. Why?

Because I am spending so much time with them. It’s just like what we’ve been taught all our lives—chose your friends carefully, because you will end up acting like them!

It reminds me of the Patch the Pirate song, “Travel with the dog and you will get lots of fleas; travel with the hog and you will eat what you please.”



From All This, Heaven Too



When I end up praying for my fictional friends (yes, I’m even guilty of praying for Jake not to be deceived—Avatar, and Henriette Deluzy-Desportes not to be arrested—All This, Heaven Too), I realize that my heart and my thoughts lie with those I spend the most time with.

If I spend three months of my life with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, yes of course I will feel withdrawal after I finish book 7. It’s like suddenly losing three good friends.

If I am engrossed in Panem, and in cheering on Katniss and Peeta (The Hunger Games), I could turn around and say, “hey, did you see how Katniss almost died yesterday?” and expect to talk back to me like it was the televised Monday night football game.

If I’m trying to help Jane (The Thing About Jane Spring) act more like a lady, I’m going to go through my day thinking about crossing my ankles when I sit, counting to three before I speak, ect. . .

All this makes me wonder.

Do you think if I spent time around my friends, how might that affect my thoughts and actions—and yes, prayers?

How would their likes/dislikes/interests affect my own?

How would their actions affect mine?

Would it make me a better person?

So yes, I believe it is true, that you will become like the people you hang out with. Choose your friends carefully!