Psalm 19:14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord my strength and my Redeemer

A young woman was waiting to board her airplane.  Since she was facing a rather lengthy layover due to weather delays she decided to buy a book and head to the VIP Lounge.  While she was purchasing her book she saw a package of Double Chocolate Chip Cookies that just looked too good to resist so she picked those up too, after all she deserved a little dessert after the way her day had gone.

With her cookies and a cup of Starbucks in tow she sat down in a leather arm chair to relax and read.  She was so absorbed in her new Lynette Eason murder mystery/romance that she barely noticed the man when he sat down in the leather chair next to her.  She was fully aware of him though when she reached over and pulled her first cookie out of the bag and he reached over and took one too.  She watched in shock as he sat smugly reading his magazine and eating HER cookie!  She felt irritated but said nothing.

With every cookie she took he would take one too!  Unbelievable!  The audacity of the situation overwhelmed her with every bite!  She was so angry she could just feel the blood rising to her face.  As if his boldness wasn’t enough his ignorance of coming between a woman and her chocolate almost got the better of her! She determined to maintain her poise and dignity even though she was furious.  Then he did it, it was the last straw when he picked up the very last cookie and broke it in half giving her half and eating the rest!  Was he insane?  In a huff she stood up grabbed her things and stormed off to the gate to board her plane!

Moments later, after she boarded the plane, she was still shaking in anger as she buckled herself into her seat.  The nerve of some people!  She decided though that she needed to let it go and try to relax on this flight so she would be ready to greet her husband and children when she got off the plane.  She would just bake herself a nice batch of double chocolate chip cookies when she got home.  She pulled her book out and retrieved her purse from under the seat in front of her to grab a mint and …… there was her unopened package of cookies!  There they sat, unopened and untouched!  She was wrong, she had forgotten she had put her cookies in her purse when she bought them to save the clerk a bag.

She felt so embarrassed and ashamed.  All the while she was stewing and angry with the bitterness of thinking he had helped himself to her cookies he was sharing his cookies with her! Why wasn’t she more kind and willing to share with him? Instead of showing the love of Jesus, the man was probably thinking she needed Jesus due to her unexplainable anger. There was no opportunity to explain herself or apologize only time to feel humiliated enough to know that she never wanted to feel that way again.   Oh, the regret she felt so she stopped and prayed for God to forgive her and to help her to check her attitudes and behaviors next time when given the opportunity to show His love to a stranger.

Some words and actions cannot be recovered.  It is always important to be sure your actions and words are seasoned with God’s grace.  We all have had those moments when just the thought of what happened leaves us feeling all of those regrets all over again. We cannot undo the past but we can determine in our hearts to allow God to show His love through us every chance we get in the future!