"Here comes Polly Perfect!" The taunts
stung her ears.
Why do they always pick on me," she thought. "I've never done anything to
hurt any of them."
It seems the only thing she ever did was have the misfortune of being named Polly
Petterson.
Other than that, Polly was a fairly normal seven year old. Her parents, Herb and
Elizabeth Peterson would be the last ones to call her "perfect." But they
did tell all, who had ears to hear, that they considered themselves blessed to have a
daughter that was as well behaved as Polly. Well behaved, not perfect.
The Peterson's had just moved to Grandview.
It was a small family-type of town. It went three or four generations deep on
most streets. And here and there, a new family settled in and tried to become part of the
town's fabric.
The Peterson's were one of those new patches in Grandview's quilt.
Herb's job had been transferred out of the city, to a suburban location just outside of
Grandview. It would have been too long of a commute to have remained at their old
home, so they found a new starting point in Grandview.
They packed up all their memories and moveable treasures and decided to make the best of
their fresh start. For Herb and Elizabeth (everybody called her Betsy) it was
a move in the right direction. Herb received a raise, more money, and Betsy
realized their new house was more modern and spacious than the one they left behind in the
city.
Polly was not so sure this was a great move.
There were hardly any kids in the block where they had moved. Those that were there
either were older or younger than Polly.
And at school, they no sooner had announced her as a new student, calling her name during
rollcall, then the kids had hung her with the Polly perfect nickname. "They
just don't know me," Polly thought.
It was another day at school. Polly already had run the gauntlet of
"Polly Perfect" taunts and was just settling into homeroom. This
was her second week at the school and she still did not have many friends.
Sheila sat at the desk next to Polly's. Sheila was the most popular girl in her
class. She stood a little taller than the rest of them and she was sooo pretty.
"She'll never talk to me," Polly thought.
Sheila smiled at Polly. Then to Polly's amazement, she began to speak to her.
"How would you like to have lunch with me and my friends today," Sheila
asked.
Polly gasped. She looked for the right words. Her tongue seemed as twisted as
a pretzel. But after a long hesitation she said, "OK."
The noon hour seemed so far away, like it would never arrive.
At lunch Polly walked to Sheila's table. All of the most popular kids were
sitting there. Many of them were the ones that greeted her every morning with
"Polly Perfect."
Polly was anxious about this but she sat down anyway. This sure beat eating by
herself.
"So Polly, you are new here," Sheila questioned.
"Yes," Polly explained, "We just moved her a couple of weeks ago. My
Dad works at the new factory that is just a few miles away from here."
A big smile crossed Sheila's face. "Polly, we would like you to be part of our
group. But there is one thing you have to do first."
"What's that?' Polly asked.
"You have to take the gold pen Miss Smith has in her desk," Sheila said.
Polly knew about the gold pen. Everybody in the whole school knew about the gold
pen. It was the award Miss Smith received for being "Teacher of the Year" last
year. Everybody loved Miss Smith, from the children to the other children.
She brought her gold pen to school with her every day. Between classes she sometimes
left it in her desk drawer.
Polly's insides began to shake when she even imagined touching Miss Smith's pen. I was
like a magic wand to her students.
"I, I, I don't think I could do that," Polly stammered.
"Why are you too perfect to be part of us," Sheila said. "You aren't going
to steal it, just hide it for a bit and then put it back."
It still did not feel right to Polly but these were the most popular kids in the school.
And she really did want some friends.
That afternoon, Polly left school with mixed feelings. On one hand she was happy
some people finally recognized her, on the other hand, she realized the price of
recognition might be a little high.
At the supper table that night, Herb and Betsy noticed something was bothering Polly.
She just shook her head when asked if anything was wrong, but it was not the normal Polly
that was eating with them. They were seeing a Polly with something on her mind.
"Does God get mad at you if you are tempted to do something wrong," Polly
asked, seemingly out of the blue.
"We all are tempted from time to time," her Dad answered. "Satan even tried
to tempt Jesus," her Mom added.
"And I guess good things can't come out of doing bad things can they," Polly
further asked.
"The results usually only seem good on the surface. But if they came from
something bad, you can bet they soon will prove not to be so good either," her
Mom said.
"Ok," Polly said. "I better finished my homework and then go to
bed so I will be ready for school tomorrow."
Polly had a hard time studying. "So, do I want to be without friends the
rest of my school life at Grandview, or do I want to live with knowing I have done
something really wrong."
She did not really want to go to school the next morning.
It was some relief when she was not greeted by as big a chorus of "Polly
Perfect." But she knew if she did not go through with the "borrowing"
of the pen, the nickname "Polly Perfect" would be harder than ever to shake.
And if she did take Miss Smith's pen, she knew it would not be doing the right thing.
It was between classes. Sheila signaled Polly over to the doorway to Miss Smith's
classroom.
"The coast is clear," Sheila whispered. "Go in now, I'll watch the
door for you"
Polly only was in the room a few minutes. She emerged just as the bell rang for the
start of the next class.
Miss Smith's class was still lunch and a class period away.
At lunch, Sheila held court like normal over her table of friends.
"Just wait until Miss Smith's class. I'm going to leave a note on her desk
saying Polly Peterson took her pen. Then she will thank me for finding the thief who
took her pen and I bet Polly won't be little Polly Perfect any more," Sheila
said with a hateful laugh.
Polly's stomach was in knots, she did not even want to think about eating that afternoon.
Then the bell finally rang announcing the start of Miss Smith's class.
Sheila with a grin back at her friends slipped a note on Miss Smith's desk.
There was a silence of anticipation when Miss Smith entered the room.
She settled into her seat behind the big desk. She noticed the note on the desk.
Picked it up, read it, then placed it back down.
Miss Smith turned her gaze right on Polly. Sheila looked over her shoulder and
smiled at her friends.
Her smile froze as Miss Smith reached into the desk and pulled out her gold pen to take
the roll.
Now Sheila started shaking on the inside.
"I must be the most popular teacher in the whole school," Miss Smith said with a
knowing look. "I got two great notes in the same day."
"And I would like to talk to the authors of those notes immediately after
class," Miss Smith concluded. Miss Smith did not become "Teacher of the
Year," without good reason.
An undercurrent passed through the class. What was going on?
The class lasted forever. And at its conclusion, everyone filed out. That is except
for Miss Smith, Polly and Sheila.
"Girls I would like to thank both of you for your great concern about the well being
of my pen," Miss Smith began.
"Polly, I want to thank you for warning me, by leaving a note in my drawer, saying
how easy it would be for something of such great value to be stole. I realize if you
left the note, you also could have taken the pen"
"And Sheila, I appreciate that when you saw Polly going into the room, and open
my desk drawer, that you thought she was going to take my pen. Thanks for the
warning but the pen was not stolen."
"This has taught me a lesson," Miss Smith said. "I never will leave my pen
in the desk unattended."
"Now is there anything you girls would like to say," Miss Smith asked.
Sheila waited for Polly to tell on her. She regretted she ever had tried to trick
Polly into getting in trouble.
Polly spoke up, "Miss Smith, I have to admit, I was tempted to take your pen. I
almost did. So Sheila's note was almost the truth."
"We all are tempted from time to time," Miss. Smith said. "It is how we
respond to the temptation that is important. You did not take my pen although you
could have."
"If there is nothing else, Polly and Sheila, thank you very much for helping me and I
will see you both in class tomorrow," Miss Smith said, completing what
qualified as another "Teacher of the Year," performance.
Sheila and Polly left the room. As they went down the hallway, Sheila turned to
Polly and said, "Why didn't you tell on me.? You knew I had tried to get you in
trouble but you did not get me in trouble when you could have."
Polly told her, "I was more worried about doing the right thing for me, rather than
placing the wrong on you. Telling on you was not going to make me feel any better
about what I almost did, so there was no reason to do it."
Sheila started to really see Polly at that instant.
She recognized that Polly was not perfect. That she was tempted to do things too,
she just did not do them if they did not feel right to her.
Sheila vowed to herself that she wanted to get to know Polly better as they walked
together towards their next class.
The next morning, the trip to school was easier for Polly. She left home with a lot
less on her mind.
When she arrived at school, she still was greeted by a few "Polly
Perfects," but there were a lot less kids calling her that. And ever day, from
that point forward, the numbers dwindled.
By the end of her first year at Grandview, she was just plain Polly again. Not
perfect, but trying to do what was right in God's eyes.
Each and every day, we face temptation. It is part of being in the flesh. God
knows we are tempted, and sometimes, we may even yield to it.
Like Polly were are not perfect. But we serve a perfect God. A God who will forgive
us, dust us off, and set us back on course when we do fall to temptation. And better
yet, give us a solid anchor, through His Son Jesus Christ, to withstand the storms of
temptation.
For all have sinned and fallen short, and that leaves us less than perfect but like Polly,
every day we have to shake off the temptations that surround us and strive to do what is
right, using Jesus Christ as our standard.
