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“Mom!
Oh Mom!” shouted eight-year-old Douglas. “I’m
going to enter Bunty into a dog show! She’s going
to win, and I’m
going to get a big prize.”
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“Hold
everything,” said Mother. “It’s all right
for you to put Bunty into the competition if you want to, but
I don’t think she will win anything. The only prize she’d
ever win would be for the dirtiest dog in town. You don’t
look after her properly.”
“Oh,”
Douglas said, “it doesn’t matter if Bunty is dirty.
She’s going to win anyway.”
“How
can you be so sure?” Mother asked.
“I’m
going to ask Jesus to make her win,” answered Douglas.
“Oh,”
said Mother, “so that’s it! But you’ve forgotten
something. All the other boys and girls will be praying the
same prayer! And that’s going to make it hard for the
angels to decide, don’t you think?”
Douglas
hadn’t thought of that before.
“And
what’s more,” said Mother, “you can’t
just ask Jesus to make your dog win a prize and then sit back
and do nothing about it.”
Douglas
looked down sadly at his untidy dog, who just wagged her tail.
“But
I can tell you how Bunty can win,” said Mother.
“How?”
asked Douglas, seeing a faint ray of hope returning.
“Well,”
said Mother, “the Bible says that ‘faith without
works is dead.’ That means you have to work as well as
pray if you want something good to happen like this.”
“But
what can I do?” asked Douglas.
“Plenty,”
said Mother. “For one thing you can take some good soap
and water and wash off all the dirt that’s sticking to
your dog’s back. Then you can take a brush, and brush
off all her loose hair. Then you can go on brushing until her
coat begins to shine as a collie’s should.”
“That’s
a lot of work,” said Douglas.
“Of
course,” said Mother.“That’s exactly what
I mean. You can’t just pray for a prize. Praying is good,
but you have to work too. Your faith and your work must go together.”
“Maybe
you’re right,” said Douglas. “I’ll start
on her first thing in the morning.”
That’s
just what Douglas did! Would you know, Bunty won two prizes.
Not only did she win the prize for the dog with the longest
tail, she also won first prize for being the loveliest dog in
the show.
And
that’s how Douglas learned he had to do his part if he
wanted his prayers answered.
Adapted
from Uncle Arthur’s Storytime, Vol. 3, by Arthur
Maxwell.
