BY: Melissa Henry

One day, while Melody was at home, she was very bored.

She had no one to play with, there was nothing on TV, and

it was raining outside. She decided that she would color for

a while, but even that got old; so, Melody tried to think of

something she could do.

All of the sudden, she got an idea! The only thing

wrong with the idea was that she was not allowed to do it.

But, Melody was tired of being bored, so she decided to do it

anyway.

Melody had a nice big bed, with a very soft mattress,

but the bed was very old. She decided that she would pretend

that her bed was a trampoline and see how high she could jump

on it. What a wonderful time Melody was having on her bed.

Jump, jump, twist around and jump, higher and higher she

would go, but then....

There was a loud crack, bang and down went the bed and

down went Melody on the floor!

Suddenly. . . Melody's mother came running in to see what was going on.

"What is going on in here?," she

exclaimed. "Melody, are you all right?"

"Yes Mama, I'm okay," Melody said. "Um, ah, I was

standing on my bed to um, ah, see if that was a spider in the

corner, but when I stood up, my bed just crashed down."

"Melody!" Mother scolded while shaking her pointed finger, "Were

you jumping on your bed?"

"No Mama, I know better then to do that. Really, it

just fell down on its own," Melody replied.

Melody felt very bad about jumping on her bed and

breaking it and also about telling her mother a terrible lie.

But it was just one little lie. How much harm could that be?

Melody was told to tell her Daddy about her bed when he

came home; so, when he walked in the door, Melody said...

"Hi Daddy, I'm glad your home, but guess what? My bed

broke down all by itself, and now I have no bed to sleep in!"

"How did your bed break down, Melody?" asked Daddy.

"Were you jumping on it?"

Melody replied, "No daddy, I was just standing on it

because I thought I saw a giant spider on my wall, but when I

stood up, my bed came crashing down!"

"I can hardly believe that your bed broke down just by

standing on it," Daddy said.

"Honest Daddy, it did! I just stood up, and my whole

bed fell down to the floor!" exclaimed Melody.

Now, Melody really felt bad. She had not only lied‚ to

her mother, but now she lied to her father. How many more

lies is she going to have to tell?

Melody's grandmother found out that her bed had broke

and was concerned and wanted to buy a brand new bed a new

bed for her. When she got to Melody's house, she asked...

"Hi Melody! How's my little grand-daughter? Are you alright?"

"Yes Grandma," Melody said. "I wish my bed hadn't broke

though".

"How did it break down," asked Grandma.

"Well", said Melody, "All I was doing was standing on my

bed to kill a spider that was coming toward me and the bed

just crashed down."

"Oh my!", said Grandma. "So you weren't jumping on your

bed then, huh?"

"No grandma, I wasn't jumping on my bed," said Melody.

Poor Melody! Now she has not only told one lie, but

another one! Not only did she say she was just standing on

the bed, but now she says the spider was coming towards her.

What a mess!

Grandma decided to go and buy a brand new bed for her

grand-daughter and Melody went with her.

Inside the store were lots and lots of beds. There were

great big beds and there were very small beds. There were

beds that stood very high and beds that were very low to the

ground. There were beds inside couches and even beds with

water in them, but there was only one bed which Melody saw

that she wanted for her very own. It was a bed big enough

for two, with a pink comforter and pink pillows, and a pink

canopy on top. It was perfect! That was the one she wanted.

"Is this bed very sturdy?", Grandma asked the salesman.

"Yes ma’am," the man nodded, "It is built with the finest

wood, and is very sturdy."

Then Melody's grandma started telling the man about how

her grand-daughter's bed fell to the floor just by standing

on it.

Melody began to feel very sick to her stomach. Her Mom

and Dad taught her not to lie and now she knows why. Now she

has her grandmother telling her lie to the salesman!

Melody's grandmother bought her the pretty canopy bed

with the pink comforter, pink pillows, and the pink canopy

that goes on top, but Melody was very ashamed of herself.

She wanted to feel good about her new bed, but the lies she

told were beginning to get worse and she didn't know what to

do.

When Melody and her grandmother got home, her daddy and

mother had already cleaned out her room so that they could

put her new bed in there. Everyone was excited! Everyone

that is, except Melody.

Melody kissed her grandmother and gave her a hug for

buying the new bed and wanted to tell her the truth about

the old bed, but she was scared. So, she didn't tell her

grandmother anything except, "Thank you".

That night, when Melody's mother and father tucked her

in bed, they began to end their day with an evening prayer.

As Melody prayed and thanked Yahweh for her mama, daddy, grandmother and her new bed, she began to cry.

"What's the matter Melody?" asked Mother.

Melody answered, "Mama, Daddy, I'm so sorry. I lied to

you about my bed. I WAS jumping on it. There wasn't a

spider on my wall or anything else. I was just bored and I

was pretending that my bed was a trampoline, but I got scared

when it broke, and so I lied to you. I am so sorry, and

I'll try never to lie again!"

"Thank you Melody for telling us the truth," said Daddy.

"Mistakes are easy to make, but confessing them isn't. We

all do things that we shouldn't do and even as adults we

sometimes try to hide them, but Yahweh sees all

whether it's right or wrong, and one way or another, someone

is going to find out about it. I suggest that you

tell your Grandmother in the morning about it and apologize

to her. I hope you've learned your lesson about lying.

A lie may start out very small, but then it grows and grows

until it's bigger than you can handle. It's a lot harder in

the long run to tell a lie, than it is to tell the truth.

This is something we all must learn."

Melody realized that what her Father said was right. It

was hard to admit it when she was wrong or disobedient, but

it was much easier confessing her sin than hiding it with a lie.

THE END

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