What do marshmallows, alcohol, and gifts have in common?

Originally written on June 14, 2007

This evening, I read to my sons the Sermon on the Mount. We stopped on “blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

Since neither Josiah (7) nor Peter (4) could tell me what that meant, I thought a word picture would be in order.

Me: Let’s say you and your friend are both racing to be first in line and your friend gets there first. How do you feel?

Josiah: I don’t know.

Peter: I never do dat, Mommy. (What an angel!)

Sweet children.

Okay, I’ll make it about me.

Me: If a friend and I were hurrying to be first and she won, maybe I’d be angry at her for winning and angry at me for not doing better.

Josiah: That’s just wrong, Mom.

Peter: Why’d you do dat, Mommy?

Me: [deep inward sigh . . .] Well, the point is, God knows what is best for us. He made us. He knew that if we tried to be first and didn’t win, we’d be angry and bitter and our hearts would be sick from it. And if we did win, our hearts would be sick with pride. That’s why He tells us not to want to be first and not seek to be great. He tells us the rewards we will get for not seeking to be great will come later. We can wait for inheriting the earth in His time.

Neither boy seemed to get it. So I thought I’d try another word picture.

(Note to self: Next time, stop while I’m behind!)

Me: Let’s say that I tell you that you can have either two marshmallows right now . . . OR . . . a whole bag of them at Christmas and you can eat from that bag whenever you want without asking for my permission. Which would you choose: the two marshmallows right now or the whole bag much later?

Josiah: Are you serious or is this just a for-example story?

Me: It doesn’t matter. Which would you choose?

Josiah: It does matter.

Me: Okay, it is a just-for-example story.

Josiah: Okay then, I’ll choose the bag of marshmallows at Christmas.

Me: But what if I offered you 2 right now for real?

Josiah: No. I’d wait still.

Peter: I’d wait politely, Mom. (That’s my competitive angel, trying to one-up his brother in the midst of a discussion on meekness.)

Me: Okay. Well, do you see where I’m going with this?

Josiah: Not really. No.

Peter: Nope.

Me: The point is that some people today choose to do whatever they want. They don’t think about what God is preparing in Heaven for those who choose Jesus and walk in His ways. They don’t listen when He tells us what will be ours in the future. Instead they choose to do whatever makes them happy in the moment. They steal, tell lies, get drunk on alcohol and drive and kill someone, they do whatever they want because they don’t care about the future.

Peter: [Eyes wide with anticipation] If they drinked alcohol, then do we get their marshmallows?

Me: [Thinking just one more word picture will clear it all up for them] Well, remember your VBS teacher telling you, Peter, that Jesus is our Gift and that some people don’t even want to open the beautiful Gift and enjoy what He offers? They want to have what they already know, rather than taking the step to open the beautiful Gift. Remember how she compared it to a ticket and she said that Jesus is our ticket into Heaven?

Peter: Uh huh.

Side bar: Are you tracking with me? I’ve just offered my poor sons four different analogies to explain “blessed are the meek” (1. trying to be first in line, 2. marshmallows, 3. Jesus is the gift, and 4. Jesus is the ticket).  Even I was confused at this point!

Me: Well, do you understand that God gives us this Gift and we have to decide if we want to accept the Gift?

Peter: Yes.

Me: So what’s inside the present, Peter?

At this point, his eyes light up and I can see that he gets it.

Me, again: So what’s inside the present, Peter?

Peter, smiling from ear to ear: Alcohol, Mommy.

Me: [silently gasping and screaming in my head, but outwardly patient]  No, sweetie, that’s not what is inside.

Peter: Marshmallows?

Me: Nooo, not that either. The idea of a packaged gift is a way of explaining that Jesus is our real Gift from God and that some people never ever decide to receive the free gift of Jesus as their Savior.  Just like when we went to ride the train a few weeks ago and the conductor asked for our tickets. Remember? [They nod their heads.] The conductor even checked to make sure we hadn’t tried to fake the tickets. He saw we had the real tickets so he let us get on board the train.

Josiah: So is there an express train to Hell then?

Clearly I’ve lost control of this Before-Bedtime Chat. There’s no chance for any redeeming value now.

My sweet baby son thinks alcohol comes in a package, that we get to eat others’ marshmallows if they drink alcohol, and my oldest son thinks there is an actual train to hell.

I can see it now, Peter is going to tell his Sunday School teacher that mommy said alcohol is a gift for some people. How do I graciously quit this conversation without leaving them with erroneous information dancing about in their wee minds?

Then, a small glimmer of redeeming value comes from my oldest.

After I clumsily shared that everyone has a choice to make whether or not to receive God’s gift to us in Jesus our Messiah…

Josiah: Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in the world opened the gift and received Jesus before He comes back, Mom? No one would go to hell and our churches would be busting open from all the people!

My evangelically gifted son brought it back to the familiar for himself — others coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus as their Messiah.

I sat for a bit and daydreamed with them of what it would be like if everyone in the whole world chose Jesus as their Savior.

It was a nice way to end the debacle . . . dreaming of The Harvest!

They are asleep now. So here I am, recording the conversation for posterity and praying as I write that my tangled analogies will be sorted out for them by the Spirit of our Living God.

Mind you, if one of my children says to you “Mommy says that . . . [insert bizzar-o statement here] . . .” pleeeze give me the benefit of the doubt. Maybe God will tap you to help them make sense of how marshmallows and the meek inheriting the earth actually relate.

Okay, they don’t relate at all. I simply, totally blew it!

Just now I had a thought: I could model meekness for them and they would get a great picture of what it means.

Why didn’t I think of that first?

Because I was too busy trying to be an educator of knowledge to my children rather than a shepherd by example for my children.

What do marshmallows, alcohol, and gifts have in common?  Nothing.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

Copyright © 2007, 2010 Deborah Rice, PeaPodFamilyPress