November 30, 2008

  • COOKIE REALIZATION

    cookies

     

    It was a dreary day, wet and cold. As I dressed myself in the icebox I call my “room,” I could not help but sigh and dread the brisk air that would hit my face as soon as I opened the front door. One after the other, I pulled up my furry boots over my shins. The fur lining seemed to serve as a velvet covering for my toes from the extreme temperature drop outside.

     

    It took me a while, but after a short mental talk, I opened the front door and walked out onto the street, soaking wet, from the ice-cold rain. I pulled the hood on my charcoal pea coat over my head, already decorated with a white wooly cap, for extra protection from the freezing rain.

     

    It is on days like this I ask myself just why I am doing this…living in a foreign city, working sometimes an impossible job, and walking from location to location. Why trade comfort for insecurity and complexity? But, isn’t it the trials that make us stronger? With this fact parading in my thoughts…I trudge on.

     

    Just as I was feeling utterly sorry for myself and somewhat furious because my bus had come ten minutes early—causing me to miss the first bus, a TRUTH struck me like lightning falling from the thunder-laden sky as I sat on the following bus.  

     

    As I sat, in my comfy warm clothes with umbrella in hand, provided for and looked after. I eyed the man in front of me snoring and covered in a very light, paint-spotted windbreaker, I could not help but gut up my emotions. Here I was, saying “woe is me,” and, this man, had most likely always lived the life of hardship. And, I, have always known ease and security.

     

    His hands were chaffed and he clutched onto a Ziploc bag of half-eaten chocolate-chip cookies. Could this be his lunch/dinner I thought? He, used to catching the bus each morning, slept with red eyes and a beard unkempt.

     

    In life, so many people are dealt a FULL cookie bag. The cookies are fresh, hot, and stuffed with thousands of chocolate chips, while others are given half-eaten stale ones. It is our choice what we will do with the cookies. Will we contain them in a Ziploc bag like the man on the bus? Will we hand out our fresh cookies to others? Or, will we just continue to make more cookies…dozens and dozens of them for ourselves!?

     

    Choice…it’s mine, like my attitude. So, today, I walked off the bus with a smile on my face. If, I am not happy, then my heart will lack ambition and passion to use my cookies!

     

    If you are living and breathing count yourself blessed. God has given us cookies meaning we have gifts and talents to be used. He wants us to be the entrepreneurs of these gifts and talents!