PB&J, PB&J, PB&J, PB&J, PB&J, Pizza, PB&J. Repeat. Dinner for five years in a row!
My son was born a picky eater. When raising kids, you need to pick your battles. Since our six-year-old son has been the ideal picture of health on the pediatric wellness exam charts every year, as long as he was getting protein, we chose not to fight this one. Until now.
Although still in excellent physical condition, (thank you Jesus), my husband and I have now taken on this deferred mission and stepped to the front of enemy lines. Our objective is to make sure that our first-grader consumes a variety of proteins and vegetables.
Most nights our dinner table is bombed with food arguments and infiltrated with defensive tears. You would think we were attacking his digestive track with poisonous suggestions, like . . . meatballs, lettuce, chicken nuggets. Oh, the torture . . . on both ends!
This required us to implement a new strategic plan: “Operation Boomerang.” This means if a dinner food isn’t eaten the night it is originally served, it’s coming back again the next night!
The “Boomerang” this week was a pulled pork sandwich. For added incentive to eat this tormenting food, I bought a new dessert--a special limited edition of Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream: rich and creamy pumpkin ice cream with a cinnamon graham cracker swirl.
OH (pause) MY (longer pause) GOODNESS! When I say that this immediately made it to my top three favorite ice creams in the world, I’m not lying.
As my son was still battling the pulled pork sandwich, my daughter and I were indulging our taste buds with this delectable treat. We could not help but comment, “This is A--MAZING! I can’t believe how good this is!” Unfortunately, our proclaimed words of satisfaction were not enough to entice my son to actually eat his sandwich that night.
So, “Boomerang” pulled pork came back again the next night. And again, my daughter and I were enjoying our bowl of dessert, while my son was suffering through the lengthy battle. But eventually, he came to the point where he was willing to endure the food fight, push through his misery, and collect his prize.
My son’s victory was rewarded with the Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. His response after the first bite, “Mom, where did you get this? Best ice cream I have ever tasted! It was worth the wait!”
We are all fighting earthly “Boomerang Battles” in this world--problems that just keep coming back into our lives. Some are small (like pulled pork sandwiches) and others are more serious issues (like health, relationships, employment, finances). Perspective is key. Even the larger earthly issues are small in comparison to eternity. Heaven outweighs all of our problems.
“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17 NLT)
For those that faithfully fight the good Christian fight, and patiently endure the small/temporary problems of this world, there is a great reward--much more valuable than Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream . . . eternity in heaven with our King. This is worth the wait!
“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.” (Hebrews 10:36 NLT)
P.S. After my family finished the carton of pumpkin pie ice cream, I was able to return to the store and pick up some more. But when Jesus returns to this earth again, there are no second chances to collect on the reward of eternity. Just like this particular flavor of ice cream is only available for a limited season, there is also a limited time that heaven is offered to unbelievers.