Cover-Up
IT’S BETTER TO ADMIT WRONG CHOICES INSTEAD OF TRYING TO COVER THEM UP.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Genesis 4:8-12.
Verse of the Day: “People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
Aiko loved to play in the bathroom sink. She plugged the drain and turned on the water. Then she rolled up her sleeves and placed her plastic toy boats in the churning water.
“Uh-oh!” she said, as one of the boats was drawn under the waterspout and capsized in the water. She grabbed the other boat and guided it toward the sinking boat. “Rescue! Rescue!” she said.
Suddenly, Aiko got an idea. She could make the water in the sink blue! All she needed was some blue food coloring from the kitchen cabinet, and the water in the sink would look like a real ocean! Aiko left her boats in the sink and dashed out of the bathroom. She tramped down the stairs and slid across the kitchen floor on her sock-covered feet. A few moments later, she had found the blue food coloring and headed back upstairs. As she approached the bathroom, however, her eyes opened wide with surprise.
A stream of water ran out of the bathroom toward the steps where she stood. She had left the faucets on, and the sink had overflowed! Aiko splashed to the bathroom and quickly turned off the faucets. She grabbed the towels off the towel rack behind her and tried to wipe up the mess, but there was too much water.
“Oh,” she said out loud. “Oh, no!” She reached for the bathroom door and slammed it shut. I’ll take a bath and tell Mommy the water splashed out, she decided.
She knew immediately, however, she couldn’t do that. She opened the door, ran downstairs, and found her mom typing on the computer.
“Mommy, I was just playing, and now the water’s all over the floor!” she said. She started to cry.
“Where?” Mom asked, standing up. “Show me where, Aiko.”
Mom grabbed a mop, then Aiko led her upstairs to the bathroom. Mom quickly cleaned up the water. Then she sat down on the side of the bathtub and pulled Aiko onto her lap.
“Thank you for coming to tell me about the water, Aiko,” she said. “If you hadn’t told Mommy, the water might have leaked through the floor and into the room below. That would have made an even bigger mess!”
“I’m sorry I made a mess,” Aiko said, her eyes still red from crying. “But I’m glad I told you, Mommy.”
TO DISCUSS: Do you think it’s better to admit wrong choices instead of trying to cover them up? If not, why not? If so, why? Which do you usually do: confess your sins or cover them up? Why?
TO PRAY: “God, give us the courage to confess our sins, rather than trying to hide them.”