Proverbs 25: 6-7  “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.”

“Welcome back from your summer vacations.” said the SCS Teacher. “I hope you had a wonderful summer.  Would anyone like to share what they did?”

Elizabeth and her parents have just come back from a fabulous vacation in the British Virgin Islands!  Look at this picture of Elizabeth standing on the beach on an island called Jost Van Dyke.  They had so much fun.  Elizabeth’s favorite part of the trip was when she and her mommy and daddy went snorkeling! 

Elizabeth wanted to tell the SCS Teacher about her trip, but Running Chairs spoke up first.

“Well, like you know, we one time went on a you know a vacation, but this year my mommy said we could not afford to go because you know sometimes you just can’t always do what you want and she said that maybe next year we can go on a trip to Hersheypark but not this year but you know one time a long time ago my grandfather went on a trip because he went to Allentown to march in a parade because it was the fourth of July and I wish I could march in a parade and you know my saddle bag looks really nice and I could march cause me and my brothers and sisters always march around the corral and pretend we are in a parade and like it is okay that we can’t go on a vacation yet.”

Then Barabas spoke up and said “Uncle Floyd and I went camping and fishing at Pinchot Park.  That was fun.”

Some of the other children spoke up about their trips also.  As Elizabeth heard about their vacations she filled with self importance.  She thought to herself that HER vacation was really much more exciting and fun than any of their vacation trips.  After all, SHE went to the BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS IN THE CARRIBEAN SEA!  SHE even needed a PASSPORT for her trip.

But then she quickly thought that if she said about her trip it would be like bragging.  It would be hard to tell about her vacation without sounding like SHE was the BETTER one.  So Elizabeth decided not speak up.

After Sam finished telling about the trip he and his father took to New York City where they saw his mother in the circus, the SCS Teacher looked at Elizabeth and said “Elizabeth, I understand you and your family took a really special trip this summer.  Would you like to tell us about what you did?”

Elizabeth was surprised that the SCS Teacher even knew about their trip. 

“I really want to tell about the trip.” thought Elizabeth.  “But I don’t want to brag.”

Then the SCS Teacher said “Come on up here and tell us about your fabulous trip way down to the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean!”

So Elizabeth told about their trip and the colorful fish they saw and how fun it was to help mommy cook in the galley on the boat they had and she had her own berth to sleep in and how fun it was when her daddy would stick his head out of the hatch in HIS berth and Elizabeth would stick her head out of the hatch in HER berth and they would talk to each other across the stern of the boat!  And Elizabeth showed them a little umbrella and some pieces of coral she found on the beach.

All the children were really interested in what Elizabeth told them.  The SCS Teacher kind of put Elizabeth in a place of honor and Elizabeth did well.

Proverbs says something like YOU SHOULD NOT BRAG AND BE FILLED WITH SELF IMPORTANCE,  BUT YOU SHOULD WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE CALLED FORWARD.”

That is just what Elizabeth did!  THE END

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