Everybody was talking about it at school. Someone broke the library window and no-one was admitting to it. The teacher asked all the students that played in that area at lunch time but nobody owned up. The teacher did not loose heart and explained to the students that everyone will get a stick, all sticks the same length, and she said that by next day, the liar’s stick will be 3cm longer. That’s just how her sticks worked, she said.

At the end of the day, the teacher gave each child one stick from her stack of sticks and dismissed the class.

The children went home each one with his/her stick. Most children did not even take the stick out of the bag because they knew that they didn’t do it. But not Johnny. He kept looking at his stick wondering how will it grow 3cm overnight. You see, Johnny knew very well who broke the window.

In the morning, before he packed for school, he looked again at his stick and it seemed to him that it grew. To be on the safe side, he decided to cut 3cm off. Surely the teacher will not be able to find out who did it.

At school, the teacher called the students with their sticks and surprise, surprise… Guess whose stick was 3 cm shorter than anyone else’s?

He realised then that lying is not a good idea. He apologised and offered to pay for the broken window with money from his money box.

Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight. Proverbs 12:22