There was one kind of cookie that was Wendy’s favorite. They were round chocolate cookies with white icing in the middle. Her mother did not buy them very often, and when she did Wendy was only allowed to have one each day.
One day Wendy quietly opened the drawer where the cookies were kept and quickly took the whole package out and went outside. The first cookie she ate was delicious, not quite as good as usual, but delicious just the same. The second one was very good too. She ate it more slowly. The third one wasn’t nearly so good, and she found she was too full to finish it. Sitting with the half-eaten cookie in her hand, she began to think. She realized she couldn’t undo what she had done. If she put the half-eaten cookie back, her mother would ask a lot of questions that she didn’t want to answer. And she didn’t want to keep the smeary cookie package in her hand, so she decided she had better hide it somewhere outside, far away from the house.
The farthest place she could think of was the mailbox out at the street. She stuffed the package of cookies and the half-eaten cookie in the mailbox and closed the mailbox door without anyone seeing her. She ran off to play and forgot about the cookies. Now the Bible says, “He that covereth [hides] his sins shall not prosper [do well]: but whoso confesseth [admits] and forsaketh [stops] them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:1313He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)).
The next day Wendy was playing happily when her mother came to her with a very sad face. She had a smeary cookie package in her hand with a half-eaten cookie in it, and there were ants all over the cookies. She asked Wendy to tell her what she knew about the cookies.
Wendy told her mother the whole story because now her mother knew. Wendy did not realize it at the time, but she had hidden the cookies in the one place her mother was sure to look each day.
Of course she was found out. There were tears, and punishment, and forgiveness. It wasn’t just her mother whom Wendy had sinned against, but God as well. Stealing is a sin, and she needed to tell the Lord Jesus what she had done. Because Wendy believed that God gave His Son to die for her sins, she was forgiven and could thank Him.
This is the Bible verse Wendy’s mother taught her: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psalm 19:1414Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)).
ML-02/04/1996