Pizza and Chicken Lesson

It was any mother's worst lunchtime nightmare: 2 pieces of leftover pizza and 3 children! Each child stated multiple reasons why they were entitled to one of the pieces. So, I did what any fair and weary mother would do: "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 15...."

This time it was my youngest to lose and we heard all about how unfair it all was between the tears of disappointment!

After our lunch was peacefully eaten, I was de-boning a rotisserie chicken. Knowing how much they like the salty, crispy skin, I offered them some pieces. You would have thought I was a mother bird bringing a worm into a nest of babies! Their beak-like fingers were all vying for the best, juiciest, and biggest pieces. Before long, it was the same greediness leaking out their mouths as earlier, insisting they get the next piece!

I gently reminded them that life cannot be about pleasing themselves. Selfishness and greediness is wrong and we have to learn to surrender our own wants sometimes in order to bless and love others. With the pizza and chicken lesson fresh on their minds, they did surprise me by cleaning and organizing their rooms without me asking them to!

This instance really got me thinking, though. Thinking about all the problems going on in this world...failing marriages....struggling friendships....violence...racism...wars. Could it really boil down to the issue of selfishness and greediness? The fact that we, as humans, want our way to be the only and correct way? The fact that we are caught up in our own agendas that we care less and less about the needs of others?

One could argue that the first sin committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was one of disobedience. But was it selfishness that caused Eve to want that fruit so badly that she listened to the tricky serpent? Was it greediness that hooked Adam into wanting something he couldn't have?

What if we learned to replace selfishness with selflessness? Or greediness with giving? Or show love to someone who offended us?

My husband and I do pre-marital counseling and we often cover the subject of love and respect in our sessions. We ask the couples if they are willing to show love to their spouse even when they feel disrespected? Can they set aside their pride and show respect, even when they do not feel loved?

People, the world needs way more love and service and kindness and peace! Perhaps the change can start with you and I, making a simple choice to become more selfless and giving to the people God places in our lives!