Her size made her difficult not to see. She was more than ample as she rolled about under her sweat pants. She was accompanied by what were most likely her grandchildren as they made their way to a table beside us at a Dairy Queen. Each of the children carried a differently flavored Blizzard. Grandma’s was twice the size of the children’s and yet that did not seem to be enough. At first she asked the children if she could taste theirs. But after the initial permission from each child came a steady tasting that must have been all of hers and half of each child’s.
How could my mind not think Agur’s classic line in Proverbs 30? “The leech has two daughters, ‘Give, give they cry.’” Some people never seem to get enough.
As soon as I thought it I was ashamed of myself. I was harsh and judgmental. I did not know these people. I made a very negative snap judgment about someone about whom I knew absolutely nothing. Then in an attempt to self-justify I thought of Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. “By their fruit you shall know them.” Really, was Jesus authorizing me to be a fruit inspector? He also said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” There I sat in a critical snobbish attitude while consuming my own Peanut Buster Parfait. No, I was not eating my grandchildren’s ice cream. Perhaps that was only because they weren’t with me. O God, be merciful to me.
Written by Roger Bothwell on January 20, 2015
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org