The Cookie Snatcher

While waiting at the airport terminal for her plane to begin boarding, a woman sat reading a newspaper. Earlier, she had purchased a package of cookies in the airport snack shop to eat after she got on the plane. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that the man sitting next to her was eating a cookie. She looked down and noticed that her package of cookies had been opened and the man was eating them.

The woman couldn't believe that the man would have such nerve as to eat her cookies. So that she wouldn't lose all of her cookies to the man, she slowly reached over, took a cookie, and ate one herself. To her amazement, the man continued to eat more cookies. Getting more and more irritated, the woman removed all but one cookie from the package and ate them.

At that point, the man reached down and took the last cookie. Before eating it, through, he broke it in half and left half of the cookie for the woman. This made the woman so angry, she grabbed the empty package with the half cookie and crammed it in her purse.

Then, to her shock, she noticed that there in her purse was her unopened package of cookies.

Sometime when we judge or condemn others, we end up judging or condemming ourselves. The Bible speaks of this in Luke 6:37: "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned." Have you ever been too quick to pass judgment on another? When we do that, we put ourselves in a precarious and often embarrassing position. Check out all the facts, ask questions, listen carefully, and give people the benefit of the doubt.

– Anonymous

March 11, 2007