OUT TO PASTOR: I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough

It was evening, and the day was just about over. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I were chilling in the living room, watching TV.

I’m not sure what we were watching on TV; it really didn’t matter. What mattered is that we were relaxing and enjoying the evening together. No appointments, no plans, just an evening of doing nothing. 

It’s that kind of relaxing that I can’t get enough of. It’s too late to do anything, and it’s too early to go to bed. 

What a wonderful scenario.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage went out into the kitchen and then called me and said, “Do you think you’ve had enough ice cream for the day?”

I didn’t know if it was a rhetorical question or she was setting me up for a trap. 

I’ve been set up before, and I’ll never know when the next one will be.

But, anything with ice cream is worth the chance.

I cheerfully responded, “I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough ice cream – and I haven’t had enough for today.”

A soft voice from the kitchen area said, “Would you like me to bring you another bowl?”

I responded, “That would be wonderful, and I sure would appreciate that.”

I can never think of a time when I had too much ice cream.

My mother often told me I had too much ice cream. But you know how mothers are? They don’t always tell the truth.

When it comes to vegetables, I can have too much of that. I can have too much when it comes to other things as well. But who in their right mind could ever say they’ve had too much ice cream?

My mother once told me, “You should be eating more fruits instead of ice cream.”

I responded, “Well then, get me some peach ice cream.”

As I was growing up, all my mother wanted to do was feed me vegetables. It’s not that I don’t like vegetables, but there comes a time when I’ve had enough.

When I was young, my favorite Saturday morning cartoon was “Popeye the Sailor Man.” As you know, Popeye is famous for eating spinach, which gave him all the energy and strength he needed.

One Saturday as I was watching it, my mother came in and said, “Oh, I see your watching ‘Popeye the Sailor Man.’ Do you know he loves spinach? I think maybe you should start eating spinach like Popeye.”

I looked at my mother seriously and said, “You do know that Popeye smokes a pipe. So if I eat his spinach do I also smoke his pipe?”

That was the last time my mother ever brought that subject up.

As a youngster, I mowed the grass for our neighbor next door, who had a tiny grocery shop. When I mowed the grass, I went into her little shop, and she gave me soda pop and my favorite ice cream cone.

She could’ve paid me money to mow the grass, but what value can you put on your favorite ice cream cone?

So when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage asked me if I’d had enough ice cream, I cheerfully told her, “absolutely not.”

If there ever comes a time when I answer my wife’s question by saying, “Yes, my dear, I think I’ve had enough ice cream for today,” you know I’ve lost my mind.

I’ve often wondered who invented ice cream. They sure have my approval. I think they did a wonderful thing to the human race by creating something as delicious as ice cream.

Even to this day, I can’t name all of the different flavors of ice cream. My goal in life is to find all the different flavors of ice cream and sample each one for the world’s record.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage brought me a very nice bowl of ice cream. “Here you are, I hope this is enough ice cream for tonight.”

I just smiled at her because I never think beyond the ice cream I’m eating at the time. I refuse to compromise that marvelous experience of eating ice cream by thinking of other things.

Then my wife said something rather strange. “Do you know,” she said rather seriously, “that there is no ice cream in heaven?”

I chuckled as I ate another spoonful of ice cream. I looked at her and said, “That’s why I’m trying to eat as much ice cream as I can now. I want to get my share of ice cream while I still have the opportunity.”

While eating that ice cream I remembered a verse in the Bible. It caused me to think about some of my habits.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Sometimes I want what I want when I want it. Usually, I don’t give much thought to consequences.

I need to sharpen my focus on my spiritual life and trust God to lead me everyday.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone is (352) 216-3025, e-mail is jamessnyder51@gmail.com, and website is www.jamessnyderministries.com