“Back with the bread already?” Tina turned from the soup
plate she was washing at the sink.
Nodding, her daughter Autumn placed a colorful
tote bag on the kitchen table. “This morning Miss Betty said that she would
have the bread ready on time. That was surprising, since she has been so busy
entertaining her cousin from Kentucky.”
“Yes.” Tina wrinkled her nose a bit. “She hasn’t had time
to stop by lately, that’s for sure. Did she at least give you a note for me?”
Autumn shook her head. “I didn’t actually see her this
afternoon; she told me she would leave the bread on the porch in a bag.” With
that, Autumn went outdoors to do her chores, leaving Tina alone with her
thoughts.
“And here I supposed that Betty and I had become good friends.
But since her cousin has come to town, I haven’t heard a peep from Betty. She
always had time to at least write a note, but I’m not even worth the effort—not
when her cousin is around!”
Tina dried her hands on a tea towel, dropped into a
kitchen chair, and sighed. She stared down at her Proverbs 17:17 coffee cup—the
one Betty had given her on her birthday. “Wait—this is NOT how I should be
thinking. If I had a relative visiting, of course I would be busy too. I guess
I’m just jealous and need to stop feeling this way. I need to see the situation
from Betty’s point of view.”
After confessing her fault to the Lord, Tina picked up
the tote bag and gently shook out two golden loaves of bread. And out from the
bottom of the bag fluttered a note from her friend.
