Dark chocolate is a good thing

"the Lord has promised good things"

Numbers 10:29

Oh my goodness, I'm doing it...  just like my mother always did.  And I used to make fun of her for it...

Does that happen to you?  Do you find that you do, or say, what your parents did?  Some of their decisions make more sense as we mature.  Go figure.  What's that saying of Mark Twain... "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."  And even more so in when Twain got to his 40s, I would guess.

So what am I doing?  Hoarding chocolates.  Sees Candy, to be specific.  When I was growing up, any time my mother received a box, she'd put them up high in a cupboard, and save them for a "rainy day".   But we used to tease her, because she would often forget they were there, and long after that rainy day had passed, someone would find those chocolates back in the cupboard, and they'd be far past their prime.  Of course, we'd generally eat them anyway...

I know she was being thrifty.  Oftentimes, those chocolates were a gift at Christmas, or a birthday, and there's always plenty of sweets around then, right?  So she'd set them aside for a time when they could be thoroughly enjoyed, and not just part of the parade of goodies.  It was a good thought on her part, and I know there have been times when she pulled out and shared what she'd been saving, it was a wonderful, unexpected treat.  But more than once, it ended up such that the chocolate was not as enjoyable as it would have been.

And I realized I've started doing this, too.  I realized the other day that I still have some of the chocolates I got for my birthday, three months ago.  My intention is to make the special things in my life last a little longer, but I think there's a little bit of hoarding going on.  And I mean that, in the sense of not trusting Him.  I feel like I have to make sure there's something good in my future, instead of just enjoying what He has provided, and knowing that when that's gone, He'll have something else that's good waiting for me.

Is it treasuring and savoring the good things, or is it feeling that the good things are elusive?  He is the giver of good things.  He always has more to give.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy a piece of chocolate!

~ "Therefore may God give you

of the dew of heaven

of the plenty of the earth" ~

Genesis 27:28