"If You're Happy and You Know It....": July 2009

Have you ever opened up your door to find a dirt covered baggie filled to the brim with squished chocolate chip cookies???

Yes? Good, keep reading, there is something you must know about squished bags of cookies.

No? That's okay, maybe someday you'll be lucky enough to be given your very own bag of squished cookies, and this lesson will help you be prepared with the proper response when that day comes.

So, you open your door, and there lying before you is a small baggie filled with what looks like they use to be chocolate chip cookies--a few walnuts sticking out here and there. There are brown streaks of mud running down the sides of the bag, and to be honest...they're just boring old cookies, right??? Wrong.

These cookies have a story.

It's the sabbath day, and Julie wanted to teach her 2 boys about the importance of service, and doing kind things for others. The boys decided that they should make cookies, and take them to the Elders, and to the Duncan's--they love the Duncans. The Elders came over for dinner, so the kids packed up a small bag of cookies for them to take home with them, that left only the delivery of the cookies for the Duncan Family. The boys carefullly picked out the very best cookies, only the best would do! They gently placed them in the bag, grabbed their bike and scooter and set off with their mother to take the cookies to the Duncans.

There is a new subdivision being built that separates the Duncan's neighborhood from the Peterson's neighborhood, and there is a new road that has been paved that will eventually connect the two neighborhoods. The Peterson's decided that they'd walk down the new road, and then pick their way through that last bit of field that stood between the two neighborhoods actually being connected.

It started out okay, but about the 10th step in, they realized that they'd have to carry the bike and scooter across, as well as the dog, the weeds were just too high--but it was okay--they were doing this for the Duncans....20 steps in, Julie trips and falls into a thorn bush and cuts up both of her arms, they're both bleeding now....30 steps, uh oh! there's a stream that runs through the middle of this field, Ah! both of Julie's feet sink into the mud all the way up to her knees--she manages to pull her feet out, but loses both of her shoes in the mud. Barefoot and holding a squirming dog, she falls backward and slashes the back of her arm on another thorny bush...still worth it! She stuck her arms elbow deep into the mud and slurp! pulled her shoes out of the mud! Poor doggy fell in the water and is covered in mud. Both boys have bug bites and scratches up and down their legs. Zach's tan church pants now look like army fatigues. Yowsers! How are they ever going to get out of there? Taylon gets stuck in the mud, the bike is covered in it, Julie can barely move without getting another cut on her arms.

Where are the cookies through all of this??? The cookies have now been dropped, and rescued, provided padding for a falling child, and taken respit in the pocket of Zachary less they take yet another tumble down the hill. The boys are still determined to carry their scooter and bike through this field turned jungle! Julie, on the other hand, bleeding, soaked through and through, and covered in mud, decides that to be safe, they better head back up the hill and go around to the Duncan's house on a "real" road. If they thought going down the hill was bad, it was nothing compared to the hike back up! Needless to say, it was an adventure in and of itself, and a small field turned into an hour long safari--which left them all battered and torn, but still in great spirits.

They still had the cookies!!! Hooray!!! They were a little worse for wear, but the boys were bound and determined to deliver those cookies. They arrived at the Duncan's, quite a sight to be seen, and the Duncan's weren't home, and there was no paper in which to leave a message. So, there they were with a little dirty bag of cookies, with no one home. The only thing they could do was to leave them at the door and hope that the Duncan's would know that these were special cookies, they gave it their all to get these cookies to them.

So, remember, a bag of smashed cookies may initially look just that, a smashed bag of cookies, but if you look beyond the little baggie you'd see that it's really a bag of love, a bag of determination, and a bag of hard work from two young boys whose wish was to give you something special.

It all made me stop and think today about the gifts we have, do we take them for face value, or do we realize the sacrifice and time that people give on our behalf. Yes, it was a silly bag of cookies, but I was there, and I will tell you what, those kids were bound and determined to get those cookies to the Duncan's...no matter what...and they did. They wear their cuts and bruises, their stained Sunday clothes as their reminder that sometimes doing something for someone else isn't always easy, but it always feels so good in the end.