A lesson about Responsibilities – with Bridget

written by Rebecca Holsapple

It was Saturday morning and Bridget had woken up with lots of ideas as to what to do with her day. She was going to do a couple crafts, ride her bike to the library to meet up with her friend Chloe, go play at the park for a while and read a novel her friend Samantha had loaned her. It was going to be a great day.

Bridget quickly made her bed and picked up what was on the floor. She got dressed in her favorite jean skirt and a bright pink t-shirt, brushed he long hair and did it into a pony tail. She ran downstairs to eat breakfast and was greeted by her mom and dad sitting at the table. They smiled and gave her a nice helping of bacon, eggs and a golden brown biscuit and a small bowl of fruits. They bowed their heads and prayed together: “Father, we want to thank you for such a beautiful day. Thank you for all the blessings you give us and help us never to take them for granted. We pray you bless this day, and this food we are about to eat. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.”

 This day was definitely starting the day off right!

“How was your night, honey?” asked Mom.

“Very good, I am full of energy this morning!” answered Bridget.

“Well, I am really glad to hear it! We have a lot to do today.” said Dad with a smile.

“What do you mean?” Bridget asked.

She has already planned her day. What did Mom and Dad have in mind?

“The school year is almost over, the warmer weather is finally here to stay and we need to get the whole house and garage cleaned. We also need to work on the flower beds and the yard. You know we do this every year…” said Mom

“I had completely forgotten about that. I made plans with Chloe!” Bridget was very disappointed.

“Well, I am sorry honey, but you are going to have to call her and cancel. This is one of your responsibilities. You know they come before fun.” Dad looked at her with kind eyes. She could see he understood her, but was not going to budge.

“OK, Dad. I’ll call her. Let me know when we are getting started.” Bridget was sad about canceling, but she decided then and there to make the best of the day. She knew mom always had a nice meal ready at the end of a family work day and that they always got to play games together before bed. It wasn't going to be so bad.

“Thanks for having a good attitude about this. Meet me upstairs when you get off the phone…” said Mom giving Bridget a side hug.

Bridget called Chloe and they postponed their play time to the following Saturday.

Then, she ran upstairs to see what needed done first.

Mom and Bridget got to work right away on the upstairs, cleaning base boards, mirrors, windows, organizing the linen closets and dusting everything. It felt good to get things nice and neat.

Mom had turned on some music and they were both having fun spending time together. Dad was outside tidying the shed and garage. They were going to head out to help him when they were done with the downstairs. The grass needed to be mowed, the flower beds weeded, and mom had bought some more flowers to plant.

Bridget always had her regular chores around the house. Make her bed, tidy up her room, help with the dishes, vacuum the living room and clean the bathroom once a week. It wasn't hard, but she always needed to remind herself to do it. It was so easy to forget and go play or do something else that was more fun.

Bridget remembered a conversation she had with her dad a few months ago. She had gone a couple days without doing her chores. She had a few days off school, and she was busy doing all sorts of fun things she hadn't been able to do in a while. She skipped cleaning the restroom and didn't sweep the living room and ran outside as soon as she was done eating without helping with the dishes. It didn't seem like much to her. But her parents noticed and they sat her down for a talk.

Bridget had been upset about it at the time. She remembered not having a very good attitude.

“What is so wrong with skipping my chores? Just this time?” she sounded aggravated.

“Honey, you need to understand it’s not just about two or three small chores. It’s about understanding the importance of responsibilities.” said Dad in a calm voice.

“What do you mean?” Bridget remembered thinking she really didn't know. She heard that word all the time and it seemed really important to Mom and Dad but she didn't understand why it was such a big deal.

“What does it mean to have a responsibility to you, Bridget?” he has asked.

“Well, it’s something I need to do… I guess.” She was pretty confused. No one had asked her that question before.

“Here, let’s look in the dictionary. Responsibility: a noun that means the state or fact of having a duty to deal with, the state or fact of being accountable for something.”

“OK…” Bridget was still puzzled.

“What do you think is my duty, what am I accountable for?” said Dad.

Bridget remembered having to think about it for a minute then answering “Well… I guess, pretty much everything around here.”

“That’s right. I am financially responsible for our belongings, emotionally and spiritually responsible for you and your mom. Do you know how I know that?”

“Not really….” Bridget said.

“I know it from reading the Bible, honey. In the same way I know how I am supposed to behave from the Bible, it also outlines my responsibilities very clearly. It also outlines your mom’s. Remember when she told you all about Proverbs 31?”

“Yes, I do.” Bridget remembered her mother telling her how everything she did around the house and for her and Dad was to please God and be a woman after His heart. She had also told Bridget that she was teaching her how to take care of the house, cook, and sew and handle her money properly was so she could be a Proverbs 31 woman when she grew up.

“What about me? Does the Bible say anything about my responsibilities?” Bridget was curious to know if the Bible said something about children needing to clean. Again a bit of a bad attitude she regretted now and had asked God’s forgiveness for.

Dad opened the Bible. “Well first off, the Bible says in Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” But it also says in Luke 16:10: “One who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much…” That means, that as a child your responsibilities are not very many, but if you do them faithfully, God will be give you greater ones.”

Mom had been sitting and listening. “I know you love being in charge of projects at school. You are a natural born leader, but do you think your teacher would keep putting you in charge if you didn't do what you were supposed to?”

“No she wouldn't…” Bridget was getting it.

“Mom continued: “It’s the same way with us, if we can trust you with little things around the house and you are showing us you are responsible, we are going to be able to trust you in more areas as you get older.”

Dad smiled at Mom and added: “It’s the same way with God.”

Bridget had been thinking for some time and realized she was almost done dusting the furniture downstairs, her mom had cleaned the floors already and they were ready to go outside to help Dad.

She ran out and gave her dad a big hug. “Remember that conversation we had about responsibilities a couple months ago?”

Dad smiled at her “I sure do. What about it?”

Mom joined them she included her in the hug. “I wanted to thank both of you for taking your responsibilities so seriously. My life wouldn't be this awesome if you didn't!”

They all laughed and Mom and Dad told her how proud they were she took the conversation to heart and that she would see the rewards of it all as time went by.

The End.

 “One who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much…” Luke 16:10