“[Jesus said,] ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.’ ”
— Matthew 25:21
Trish-ah-a-a-a-a-a!” came a little voice from the bedroom.
“Hang on,” Trisha said into her cell. She was babysitting at the Robinson’s again. Whenever Trisha was having the most fun talking with a friend, Emmy wanted her attention.
“I’ll be there soon,” Trisha shouted to Emmy.
For a few moments, everything was quiet. Trisha slid into a more comfortable position and started texting. Soon, she forgot about the little girl she was babysitting.
Trisha was just about to check on her when the Robinson’s phone rang. By now, Trisha was texting back and forth between two friends. She couldn’t just leave them hanging!
For an instant, Trisha looked at the Robinson’s phone. It’s just someone wanting to sell something, she decided. Pushing the ringing phone out of her mind, she went back to texting.
Suddenly, a loud crash broke into her conversation. Filled with panic, Trisha jumped up and ran for Emmy’s bedroom. As she raced down the hallway, Trisha noticed the door to the master bedroom was partly open. She tried to push it the rest of the way, but the door wouldn’t move. Looking down, Trisha discovered the reason. A large piece from a glass lamp had spun across the hardwood floor. Other pieces lay all around one side of the bed.
Emmy sat on that bed, only a few feet above most of the broken glass.
“Emmy!” Trisha snapped. “You’re supposed to be in bed. What are you doing in here?”
Emmy pushed back into a pillow and huddled there. “You didn’t come when I called.” Tears welled up in Emmy’s eyes and slid down her cheeks. “I want my mommy.”
Trisha looked at Emmy, then at the floor. I’m in big trouble, she thought. What am I going to tell her mom and dad?
An instant later an even worse thought struck Trisha. Emmy must have pushed the lamp off the bedside table. What if she’d been on the floor and pulled it off? It wasn’t hard to imagine the little girl all cut up from flying glass.
That’s when Trisha realized she’d made a big mistake. Emmy’s parents had trusted her with the safety of their daughter, and Trisha hadn’t been responsible. When we become followers of Jesus, he also gives us a lot of responsibility. Can you be trusted with it?
More To Explore: Romans 12:5 – 8
Girl Talk: Do you ever babysit? What kind of babysitter do you think God wants you to be?
God Talk: “God, please help me to use my gifts well. Help me to be a girl people can count on. Amen.”
From Girl Talk by Lois Walfrid Johnson