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By Dr. James L. Snyder

It was evening, and the day was just about over. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I were chilling in the living room, watching TV.

I’m not sure what we were watching on TV; it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that we were relaxing and enjoying the evening together. No appointments, no plans, just an evening of doing nothing. It’s that kind of relaxing that I can’t get enough of. It’s too late to do anything, and it’s too early to go to bed. What a wonderful scenario.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage went out into the kitchen and then called me and said, “Do you think you’ve had enough ice cream for the day?”

I didn’t know if it was a rhetorical question or she was setting me up for a trap. I’ve been set up before, and I’ll never know when the next one will be. Anything with ice cream is worth the chance.

I cheerfully responded, “I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough ice cream and I haven’t had enough for today.”

A soft voice from the kitchen area said, “Would you like me to bring you another bowl of ice cream?”

I responded, “That would be wonderful, and I sure would appreciate that.”

I can never think of a time when I had too much ice cream.

So when The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage asked me if I’d had enough ice cream, I cheerfully told her, “absolutely not”. There is no way under the sun that I could ever have enough ice cream in one day.

If there ever comes a time when I answer my wife’s question by saying, “Yes, my dear, I think I’ve had enough ice cream for today,” you know I’ve lost my mind.

My goal in life is to find all the different flavors of ice cream and sample each one for the world’s record.

The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage brought me a very nice bowl of ice cream. “Here you are, I hope this is enough ice cream for tonight.”

I just smiled at her because I never think beyond the ice cream I’m eating at the time. I refuse to compromise that marvelous experience of eating ice cream by thinking of other things.

Then my wife said something rather strange. “Do you know,” she said rather seriously, “that there is no ice cream in heaven?”

I chuckled as I ate another spoonful of ice cream. I looked at her and said, “That’s why I’m trying to eat as much ice cream as I can now. I want to get my share of ice cream while I still have the opportunity.”

While eating that ice cream I remembered a verse in the Bible. It caused me to think about some of my habits.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Sometimes I want what I want when I want it. Usually, I don’t give much thought to consequences.

I need to sharpen my focus on my spiritual life and trust God to lead me everyday.

Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com