This week the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage made a little slip. To her, it was a little slip, but to me, it was a big mistake.
It is not always that she makes mistakes that I can profit on. I don't make this public, especially within her earshot, but there are times that she makes a mistake, and I'm always on the lookout for those times. When it comes to me, I'm always making mistakes. I'm not sure that I can make a little slip because mine are much bigger. And the problem with this is, the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage always catches them, and sometimes, I don't know how she does it, she catches them before I actually do them. She calls it "woman's intuition," but I call it "man's trouble." This past week, for instance, I had an appointment with my eye doctor. I told my wife that the doctor's appointment was on Wednesday. She countered that and said, "No, I believe it's on Thursday." "It's my appointment," I said, both hands on my hips, "and I'll go when I want to." She looked at me, snickered, and then went back to what she was doing. I think I heard her mumbling something like, "He's 13 again." I got to the eye doctor's office, walked up to the counter, and signed in. Then I went to sit and wait to be called. In a few minutes, a nurse came up to me and said, "Mr. Snyder, what are you doing here today?" “I’m here to pick up my glasses.” “I’m sorry, your appointment isn’t until tomorrow.” But this week, my wife made her mistake, and I was able to cash in on it. She returned home from shopping at Publix, and I think without even thinking, she said as she was coming into the kitchen, "The Girl Scouts are selling cookies at Publix today." “I forgot something at Publix,” my wife said, “would you have time to run over to Publix and pick this up for me?” I find it very hard to subdue hilarious laughter under circumstances like this. I worked hard and solemnly said, "Oh, my dear. I can go right now, and there's no problem at all." Walking up to the girls at Publix, I looked at them and said, “I’ll be back after I go do some shopping.” I'm always as good as my word, and I came back, and since I could not make up my mind as to what cookies I wanted to purchase, I did the gentlemanly thing and bought one of each cookie they had for sale. As I put the bag on the kitchen table, my wife happened to look at it and said to me, "Those are not Girl Scout cookies, are they?" “Isn’t that what you wanted me to buy?” She just stared at me, but all I could think about was eating that first cookie. As I delighted in eating that first cookie, I was reminded of what David said in one of his Psalms, "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalms 37:4). As much as I delight in these cookies, my greater delight is in the Lord. As I delight in the Lord, I enjoy all the delicacies of that relationship. [Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352-216-3025 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com.] |
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