A Bucket Full of Weeds

Jennifer and her friend, Theresa, were helping in Granny’s big garden. There was a lot of weeding to do, but it was fun to work together. Aunt Lucy chopped up the ground with a hoe and the girls snatched up the weeds as quick as they could. They stuffed the weeds in a big green bucket.

“This bucket is almost full!” said Theresa after awhile.

Jennifer stepped into the bucket and jumped up and down. “Now there is more room!” she said with a laugh.

Two more armfuls of weeds and the bucket was full again.

“I’m hungry,” said Theresa.

“Me, too,” agreed Jennifer.

“Let’s finish weeding this patch,” said Aunt Lucy. “Then you girls can take a break.”

“The chickens would like something green to eat,” said Granny. “Why don’t you take the weeds to them?”

“Okay!” the girls agreed.

Jennifer stuffed the last armful of weeds into the bucket and Theresa picked up the handle. “I’ll show you where the chickens are,” said Jennifer, leading the way.

“I’ve never had chickens before,” said Theresa.

“They are quite noisy!” said Jennifer, as she pushed open the chicken house door. The chickens began to squawk and huddle into the back corner. The girls started tossing the weeds into the pen. The chickens made so much noise that Jennifer plugged her ears.

“They are noisy!” Theresa said with a laugh.

“Look at this!” Jennifer said, as she threw a big clump of grass at the back wall. Several hens flew out from under the perches, cackling loudly. Theresa giggled.

Suddenly a voice called out, “Jennifer! Stop that!”

The girls turned around quickly. They were not expecting Aunt Lucy to come. Her face looked stern and she said, “You know better than to throw things at the chickens. If you don’t tell Granny what happened, then I will.”

Jennifer felt scared as she walked slowly back to the garden. She didn’t like being in trouble.

Granny looked up from her weeding. “What were you doing in the chicken house?” she asked quietly. “The chickens were making lots of noise.”

“Well…” said Jennifer, and looked at Theresa.

“You tell her,” whispered Theresa.

“We were throwing weeds at the chickens,” she said in a small voice.

“Why did you do that?” asked Granny.

Jennifer shrugged her shoulders.

“Were the chickens jumping and flapping around?” asked Granny.

The girls nodded their heads.

“Do you think that they will lay more or less eggs when they’ve been scared?” she asked.

“Less,” said Jennifer in a small voice.

“Maybe for two or three days we won’t have very many eggs,” said Granny. She looked at the girls for a moment, then she smiled kindly. “We need to treat the hens well if we want eggs to eat.”

Jennifer was quiet when Aunt Lucy drove her home for lunch. “You girls were good workers today,” Aunt Lucy said. “And you both learned a good lesson about chickens, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know that we shouldn’t throw weeds at them,” said Jennifer soberly.

“That’s because you didn’t stop to think,” Aunt Lucy said. “Maybe Mommy never told you not to, but what do you think she would’ve said if you asked her, ‘Can I throw things at the chickens?’”

“She would say, ‘Of course not!’” answered Jennifer.

“You see, it is easy to just get ideas and not think before you do things,” said Aunt Lucy. “Until you learn to be responsible, we can’t let you be by yourselves. But I hope you will remember this lesson. Do you want us to be able to trust you when we aren’t watching?”

Jennifer nodded.

Aunt Lucy smiled. “It’s not easy for any of us, but God can help us stop and think before we do things!”