Cookies, Cappuccino and Cordiality

I want to share with you a true story that happened to me several years ago when I used to work as Manager of Strategic Marketing & Initiatives for the Western Region of a major airline. Yes, that was an impressive title to hold, (as well as quite a mouthful to say), but what it meant was that I got to travel to a lot of various parts of our beautiful western lands in order to call upon travel agencies and corporate clients. On one such trip I had flown out to call on accounts in the Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico area. Finishing my sales calls early, I went back to the airport to catch my flight back home. I had about two hours before my flight was scheduled to depart so I bought a bag of peanut butter sandwich cookies from a group of Girl Scouts who happened to be selling them at the airport. After purchasing the cookies, I put them in my carry-on bag. I then proceeded to purchase a cup of coffee from the Starbucks nearby. After getting my overpriced but tasty cup of cappuccino, I went and sat down at a crowded table next to a group of strangers who were also biding their time awaiting their scheduled departures to their various destinations. Being an avid lover of books, I then proceeded to open my copy of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, taking the lid off of my steaming coffee and intently began reading my book.

Across the table from where I was seated sat a man who held in his hands a copy of that day’s USA Today newspaper. After a minute or two without taking my eyes from the page I was reading, I reached out and took a cookie. A few moments later I noticed in the corner of my eye that this man had reached out and took a cookie, too. I remember thinking to myself at the time, “How rude and audacious!” but I did not say a word.

A couple minutes later, while turning a page, I grabbed another cookie. A few moments after that I saw that man, that stranger, reach into the bag and take yet another cookie. I believe myself to be a reasonable man, but I found myself reddening as I was getting angrier by the minute. After all, these were not just your simple, ordinary, run-of-the-mill everyday cookies to be found in any market, these were Peanut Butter Sandwich Girl Scout cookies! How dare this man do this to me, and take advantage of my good nature! Could he not tell that I was Manager of Strategic Marketing & Initiatives for the Western Region of a major airline? Did he not realize just how important of a man I was? Still, in spite of his cheek and bravado, I composed myself and kept my silence. I remained calm.

After having a couple more sips of my brew I once again took another cookie. So did that stranger. There was no doubt about it now, I was really getting mad about this! And since by this time there was only one more cookie left, I admit I was fuming inside. It would seem that the man also realized there was only one cookie left now, so before I could say a word about it the man took that last cookie, he broke it in half, offered one-half of it to me, and he proceeded to get up and leave, grabbing his briefcase, newspaper and luggage with him. He nodded his head, gave me a friendly smile and, tucking his newspaper under his arm, he headed down the terminal and towards his gate, saying as he left, “Good day, sir!” But not one word did he say about those cookies he had taken!

“Of all the nerve!” I remembered saying to myself as I watched him disappear into the crowd. “Can you believe what people think they can get by with today?” Was I ever ticked off at him! I felt as if he had ruined my whole day, my whole trip even! So I finished my coffee in a huff, threw the empty cup into the nearby receptacle, and went to place my book in my carry-on bag. It was at that point that I made a heart-wrenching and humiliating discovery, for there inside was none other than my own unopened bag of Peanut Butter Sandwich Girl Scout cookies! I looked once again for the stranger, never seeing him again, and never being able to thank him for his cordiality!

As embarrassed as I was at that moment, I am thankful and grateful to God that He allowed it all to happen. “Why is that?” I am sure someone will ask. Well, I am thankful because it reminds me about how well God treats me even when I am not treating Him well or thinking all that kindly and graciously about Him. It has taught me to be a more patient man, and hopefully not one who jumps to wrong conclusions about others as quickly as I used to do. In other words, it was an opportunity for God to teach me how to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, for as Paul wrote to the church in Galatians 5:22-23, “ . . . the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”

This encounter has also taught me to think about how, sometimes, I do not really appreciate what I have or act like I know where it has come from, where the true Source of all blessings flow. It serves as a kind of reminder to me, just as that reminder is found in reading from Deuteronomy 8:17-18. Moses, after telling the people of Israel how they will prosper in the Promised Land that they are about to enter, how, after so many years of slavery and then of wandering around in the wilderness, they will eat their fill, and have fine houses and large herds, and that their silver and gold will multiply, says this:

“Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth, so that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your ancestors, and as He swears to you today.”

It has been a constant reminder to me that what James, the Lord’s brother, says in James 4:10 is absolutely true: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.”