Wednesday, January 27, 2010

An Overused Phrase and it's Literal Translation.

So, Gary has this thing he likes to say. He says it when there is an empty seat at the table, food not eaten, or an extra serving of something. He likes to say those things are "for Jesus". No, he's not actually setting a place at the table for Jesus. He's being very tongue-in-cheek. Yeah, I know, Gary being cheeky. Who could believe that?! Anyway, the other night, it caught up to him. He was being quite naughty with himself. Craving Crown Burger and wondering just how far he could push his dietary limits. Crown Burger seemed to be okay, so he branched out to Irish Cream, that was okay too. Cream in his coffee, um....maybe not so okay. But how to be sure? Definitely not by using the better part of a pint in a weekend. Yeah, that's how he rolls. He thinks big and he goes for the gusto. If a little bit is good, a lot is better. He's that way with EVERYTHING! And, it's one of the things I love about him, it really is. But he quickly realized the error in judgement on the cream and coffee issue. Next, he tried leftover Bierocks...I never realized how much he truly liked them. They probably would have been okay, if he hadn't followed them with half a bag of chocolate chips! While he and Neil were sharing the chocolate chips, Neil surprised him by taking one chip and setting it on the table...and declaring it was "for Jesus". Now that I look at it, he just might have been trying to keep it away from Gary. But, Gary thought it was pretty funny, so he called me at work to tell me what happened. It was funny. I had to laugh. When I got home that night, Neil met me at the bottom of the stairs. We were going over the homework and talking about his day, when he saw the chocolate chip still on the table. He said "Jesus didn't eat his chocolate chip." I had to say, "And, he probably won't" to which he replied "Why?" .....um yes, why? The first thing into my head was that He's dead. But, that's not exactly true. So, I did the parental thing and changed the subject. The next morning I saw the chip still there. Surprised? I am a bit, it was sitting at Gary's place on the table...he had eaten breakfast right in that very spot. But, I guess he was feeling crappy enough from the previous night of indulgence that it didn't even look good. So, since it was there, I ate it. And felt guilty. I didn't want Neil to think that Jesus had stopped by in the middle of the night to eat the chocolate chip. He's not Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy. He doesn't need to work under cover of darkness, while all are sleeping. I put another in it's place. When Neil came downstairs, he saw it. He gave it a look, then gave me a look. I said "Jesus still didn't eat the chocolate chip." So, Neil did. And he smiled big when he did it. I did have to point out to him that when some people set that extra place at the table, it is for Jesus. But, they know He won't actually be joining them. It's more of a reminder. A reminder to share what we have with those who have less. A reminder that there is always something we can share. Time, friendship, the warmth of our home, a meal, and maybe even a chocolate chip. He's a good kid, he got it.