One day last week, I was up early working in my office as I normally do. I happened to pause what I was doing for a moment and smelled this wonderful aroma.
I got up from my desk, walked out into the kitchen and the closer I got the stronger that aroma was.
When I got to the kitchen there was The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage baking cookies. Oh, how delicious those cookies smelled.
I smiled and just stared at all those cookies in the kitchen. There were molasses and peanut butter cookies, two of my favorites.
As I was looking at them, The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage said to me rather sternly, “These cookies are not for you, they are for my friends. Do not eat them.”
She saw me staring at those cookies and said, “Did you hear me?”
Looking at me she said, “If you are a good boy today I will allow you to eat one cookie. Just one.”
What is her definition of “a good boy” and most importantly, how did she define “one cookie?”
I don’t think it’s fair that I should be put in such a situation.
After all, it’s really not my fault. It is the fault of The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage who makes cookies so delicious that I cannot refuse them.
I sat for a moment at my desk and tried to think of anything bad I did that morning and I couldn’t think of one thing. Therefore, with the evidence on the table, I have been a good boy today.
The next thing I had to deal with was the word “one.” What does that word mean?
Looking at the cookies in the kitchen there were only two cookies: one was molasses and the other was peanut butter. So, in my understanding of the situation the word “one” means that I have to choose between the molasses cookie and the peanut butter cookie.
So, according to my rationality, when I pick “one” cookie I can eat as many of them as I want to. I just can’t eat the other one or I will be eating two cookies.
Going to the kitchen I made up my mind that the “one” cookie will be the peanut butter cookie. Oh, how I love her peanut butter cookies.
Picking out five cookies I joyfully skipped back to my office to enjoy these scrumptious treats. I earned these treats and therefore I’m going to eat them with a great deal of satisfaction. I am unanimous in that.
I had finished those cookies, was working at my desk when I heard the front door open and expected it was The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.
I then heard her voice, “Did you eat all these cookies? When I told you to eat only one?”
Now I have some “splainin” to do.
A Bible verse came to mind that refreshed my mind concerning rewards. 2 John 1:8, “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.”
There are times when I convince myself that I deserve a certain reward. All I need to do is twist certain words to my benefit thinking I deserve something when in fact I am not being honest.
Dr. James L. Snyder
Ocala, Fla.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone (352) 216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com.