This Was for You

Friday night Vickie and I want to Anna’s for dinner – she had a Greek salad and I had an eggplant pasta dish. Both were great, both overflowed their plate. I could have easily eaten one-half and taken the other half home – I was aware of this when I first saw the plate, I was aware of this as I was eating, I was keenly aware of this as I approached the halfway point on the plate.

As I approached the halfway point I was getting full, in fact I was getting quite full. But, I reasoned that it tasted so good and I had eaten so wisely during the week…and then there was Vickie. She was lagging behind in eating her salad and what was I to do? It wouldn’t be right for me to stop eating and watch her. Oh, I guess I could have stopped eating and talked a bit more – but would she have wanted to hear a monologue on history or theology? No, I could not do that to her. So I ate.

When I arrived at the three-quarter point of my dinner plate I thought about saving that last section, of taking it home, of having it for lunch on Saturday. But then, I was getting close to finishing it, and was there really enough for lunch? It seemed a small thing to just go ahead and finish it – after all, it was so good, so tasty…and I had eaten wisely during the week.

On the way home I complained of being full. After we arrived home I complained of being full. I also questioned my wife’s love for me, surely if she loved me she would not have let me eat the whole thing – why hadn’t she intervened?

The next morning (Saturday) I lamented that I had eaten so much. (Do you get the picture?)

This morning (Sunday), as we left the church parking lot Vickie said to me, “That message was for you.”

I looked at her, “Really, oh that’s great.”

“Yes,” she said, “I was thinking about you during the sermon.”

“Well, I was thinking about me too and about Friday night. But still, you really think the sermon was for me?”

She replied, “Well, you’ve been talking about it.”

The sermon was on a subject I’ve not ever heard preached after almost five decades of following Jesus. It was masterful, well done, and thought provoking. I’ll be thinking about the facets of the message for some time to come. For sure the next time I’m at Anna’s and order a dinner that is large enough for two meals I’ll think of this message.

The message is part of a series focused on the Seven Deadly Sins; today’s sermon title was Gluttony. It’s great having a wife who will just get it out in the open by saying, “The sermon was for you.”

Well, she said it in love, she said it somewhat amusingly…and in fact she said what I was thinking. Just another reason why Adam needs Eve.