A Time to Share

Debbie expected to win the attendance prize at Vacation Bible School. And so, she was not surprised when her name was called out on the last day as having won. Her heart gave an extra flip, anyway, for it is fun to win.

After the cheers died down and she took her place again she noticed Martha sitting all too quietly beside her. Debbie thought she saw a streak on her friend's face where a tear had passed. Then she remembered that Martha had been late one morning. Someone had called her mother to help take care of a sick neighbor and Martha had had to baby-sit with her little brother until her mother returned. If that had not happened they would both have won.

Debbie nervously opened the package and found a beautiful white Bible with a zipper cover and a little gold cross  at the end of the zipper fastener. Exactly like the Bible she had won last year. She placed the book back in its box and carelessly tossed the wrappings in the wastebasket nearby. She decided that she would run a contest with herself and see just how many of these Bibles she could collect.

But the more she thought of Martha the less she liked the idea of making such a collection. After all, it wasn't Martha's fault she had missed having perfect attendance by a few minutes.

"Marty," Debbie said to her friend on the way home. "You really won this Bible and not I. I had my whole family helping me to get to Bible School while you had to help your family before you could come. We heard a lot about sharing at Bible School, so I want to share my prizes with you. The Bible is really yours, for you had to give something up to win and I didn't!"