The Cookie Thief

To start, a poem:

The Cookie Thief by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be …grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So, she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

Just a few short years ago, I was like that woman, worse, even. In her position I would not have merely thought negatively while this man, this “ingrate”, stole my beloved cookies. I would have reacted in anger, raising my voice so that those passing by could hear my accusations. I would have attacked his intelligence, his physique or anything else to cause him pain. Afterwards, I would have shoved all the cookies in my mouth, turned to him, cheeks full like a vexed chipmunk, made a rude hand gesture, and walked off. Possibly leaving him in tears, hurt, with a damaged self-esteem. And even worse still, had I discovered that I was mistaken about what had actually occurred, I would have made myself feel better by misplacing blame again with thoughts like, “well, he should have said/done something to stop me”. I was capable of being ruthless. I was known to be cutthroat. People in previous social circles knew not to push me. I had made people cry, broke their spirits, and damaged self-esteems. I was a punisher and others would boast of my abilities. “Sick Sammi on them. They won’t ever do that again”. I saw myself as the stronger individual. I didn’t take crap from anyone. When people acted out of line, I was the one to put them in their place.

“Kindness is lending someone your strength instead of reminding them of their weakness” -Unknown

Kindness is strength.

I was not displaying feats of strength through my tyrannical rampage. No. True strength is what the man in the poem represents. The one that showed restraint, that opted to share what was rightfully his. He remained silent and made the choice to be charitable. He wasn’t judgmental, immediately forgiving her indiscretions. He practiced love, compassion and patience.

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” – Ephesians 4:32

About 4 years ago I decided to change. It was that or lose this awesome man I was dating that I eventually tricked into marrying me. Through love and patience, he showed me that the way I viewed my actions was severely off-center. And he taught me a lot about who I was and how I needed to treat others. Bless his heart. I put him through the ringer. But knew I needed to change. So, I started to do this thing, when someone irritated me, made a mistake, or did something to upset me, I prayed. And the prayer was simple at first: “Lord, make me kind”. And from there, “Lord make me kind. Help me be patient. Help me understand. Help me to react with love as I know thou lovest them. Help me be like Christ”. And let me tell you, my prayers were answered! It not only forced me to take a time out which is always a good idea when I am feeling upset, but it helped me to better understand Christ’s response when he was asked which is the great commandment:

“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” – Matthew 22:37-39

Loving our fellow man is such an important principle to our Father in Heaven that he places it right underneath the love we should have for Him. Thankfully I have Him to help me and that He is a merciful God because heaven knows I still have a long way to go. I am trying and that’s about all I can do. He helps me the rest of the way. I will get there one day in the eternities I’m sure. Until then at least I have a Cookie Thief as an example.

Thanks for stopping by, know you are loved.