Patty’s Parties
FAITHFULNESS IS RIGHT BECAUSE GOD IS FAITHFUL.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read Psalm 89:1-2, 8.
Verse of the Day: “0 Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, Lord? Faithfulness is your very character” (Psalm 89:8).
Patty was putting the finishing touches on a party she had planned for a friend who was moving away. “Naomi will be so surprised,” she told her mom as she finished frosting the cake. “She doesn’t have a clue about the party.”
The phone rang. Mom answered it and handed the receiver to Patty. “It’s for you.”
Patty took the phone and continued to frost the cake. She said very little during the conversation. After she hung up, she looked gloomily at Mom. “That was Emily,” she said. “She’s not coming. She said she has to do something else.”
The phone rang two more times in the next thirty minutes, each time with the news that a friend wouldn’t be attending the party. Patty’s frustration showed as she complained to her mom. “They claimed something better came up,” she said. “I feel bad for Naomi now. It’s like they think, ‘She’s moving away anyway, so why go to a party for her?’”
A couple of weeks later, Patty was invited to a party by someone she barely knew. She accepted the invitation, but a few hours later received another invitation. The second invitation was to another party scheduled for the same night. She knew all of her friends would be at this second party.
“I’m really sorry,” she told the person who had invited her to the second party. “But I’ve already accepted an invitation for that night.” She listened for a moment as the other person spoke. “No,” she answered, “I can’t cancel it. Sorry.”
When she hung up the phone, she saw Mom standing behind her.
“I’m proud of you for being faithful and keeping your word,” Mom said.
“I didn’t want to,” Patty answered. “I really wanted to go to the other party.”
“I know,” Mom said. “If it were easy to be faithful, everyone would do it.”
“Yeah,” Patty said. “And I know how it feels when somebody cancels on you and lets you down.”
“You should also know that it pleases God when you’re faithful, because he’s faithful. That’s why it’s right to be faithful, and that’s why you’ve made me a happy mom.”
Patty smiled at her mom. “I guess I should look at the bright side,” she said. “I got invited to two parties on the same day! That’s pretty cool!” “You’re right,” Mom said. “That is pretty cool.”
TO DISCUSS: Which is right: faithfulness or unfaithfulness? Why? Would you have done what Patty did? If so, why? If not, what would you have done differently? Have you broken a promise to anyone lately? Are you being faithful in all your relationships?
TO PRAY: “Lord, help us to be faithful, because we know you are faithful.”