Since…you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure, your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23
The house seemed to hide appropriately behind several trees. The old tire swing that dangled from a fraying rope was, like childhood innocence, long ago abandoned.
A quick rap on the door signaled Jan that her friend made it without being seen. Jan opened the door and pulled Carol inside. “Do you have the letter?” Jan asked.
Carol whipped out the ruled piece of paper with her mother’s handwriting on it. “Right here! Are you sure your parents won’t be home?”
“Positive! What do you want to do after we write the excuse?” Jan asked. Carol shrugged. “We’ll think of something,” Jan giggled.
A whisper of deception hides behind every temptation.
The two young teenage girls set to work in Jan’s upstairs bedroom forging an excuse for Carol to get back in class the flollowing day. Since Jan was a grade ahead of Carol, she didn’t need an excuse, but Carol did.
After almost two hours of forging her mother’s handwriting, they grinned at the finished note. “My mother wouldn’t be able to tell the difference!” Carol boasted. Girl, what are you doing? she thought. “Jan? I feel guilty.”
“Why? We’re not hurting anybody. Nobody’s going to find out. We’ll have fun, You’ll see.” Carol nodded, but that gnawing feeling tied her stomach in knots.
That evening, Carol’s mother asked, “How was school today?” “Same-o, same-o,” Carol replied, avoiding her mother’s eyes.
The next day, Carol handed in her excuse at the office before dashing to home room. Within five mintues, the principal stepped into the room and crooked his finger at Carol. An instant hush blanketed the room. Every eye riveted on Carol. Her legs felt like wood as she struggled to stand and follow the principal out of the room.
Be sure, your sin will find you out.
The principal flipped the note onto his steel desk. “Did you write this note?” he demanded. “No, Sir,” Carol mumbled.” The massive hulk stood with eyes glaring. “Did. You, Write. This. Note?” Carol squeezed her sweaty hands together, staring at the floor. “Yes,” she admitted, in a tiny voice. The hulk gave a triumphant nod and sat down. “Your mother came up with the perfect punishment.” Carol jerked her head up and locked eyes with the principal. “That’s right! Your mother. You see, young lady, your mother had notified school at the beginning of the year that if you or your brother were not in schol, she was to be notified immediately at her work.” He seemed delighted to add, “She knew yesterday before the second bell rang!”
Carol’s shoulders slumped, and she stared at the note.
“You are to write a 500 word theme on honesty. Due tomorrow before home room. That’s all. You are dismissed.”
That evening, Carol’s mother asked, “Any homework tonight, Sweetie?” Once again, Carol avoided her mother’s eyes. “A little,” she said, wishing she could become invisible. Her mother was silent, but Carol could feel her disappointment that pierced her heart deeper than the confrontation she had in the principal’s office.
Carol wrote on George Washington cutting down the cherry tree – when confronted by his father, George answered, “I cannot tell a lie…I did cut it with my hatchet.”
Carol read the iconic story that was actually invented by one of Washington’s first biograhers, Mason Locke Weems. He wrote about the value of honesty to satisfy readers who knew the public side of President Washington, but what was he like in the private sector? Weems wrote, “Washington’s public greatnes was due to his private virtues, and honesty was a huge factor in the character of George Washington.
I learned my lesson: honesty is a virtue, and can be stronger than a whisper of deception!