One day while shopping a mother with two daughters had to face one of her biggest fears. While walking down the aisle full of candy, the two little girls found only one bar of their favorite chocolate; they started arguing loudly about which one of them should have it. In a matter of seconds, the arguing escalated to yelling; in a blink of an eye, they were crying and causing a scene.
The mother stepped in between them and took the chocolate bar and put it in the cart. She convinced the two girls to calm down and that they would solve the problem of who would get the chocolate bar when they got home…but, only if they behaved well until then.
At first the two daughters didn’t like the idea very much; but, then they figured that they had some time until they got home to make a good impression on their mother and gain her favor. From that moment on the girls did everything their mother asked of them. When they got home they even helped prepare dinner and cleaned the dishes.
While the girls were occupied with trying to impress their mother, the mother was trying to come up with a way to help the girls learn to share. As she prepared dinner she remembered a short story called “The Cake Parable” that she once heard in a team-building event at work that would be right for the situation at hand.
After dinner and after the dishes were done, the two daughters again started arguing about which one should get the chocolate bar. The mother called them to the table where she was waiting for them with the chocolate bar.
As the girls sat down their mother asked them if they had ever heard the story about “The Cake Parable”. The two girls said, “No,” and then asked their mother to tell them about it. Their mother explained, “It’s a short story that has a hidden lesson; but, what that lesson is you will have to tell me after you hear the story. The first one to have it right will get the chocolate bar.”
As the mother began telling her story, she started peeling the wrapping from the chocolate bar. She said, “One evening two guys were looking for a place to get a snack. They had little to no luck finding a restaurant or a stand with food still open as it was later in the evening. But after some time, they finally were lucky enough to fine a small pastry shop that was just about to close. The owner had the policy of selling only fresh pastry, and he always gave away for free any pastry that was left at the end of the working day. The two guys looked around the small shop, and one of them whistled as he saw a big delicious-looking cake. The other guy jumped up and picked it up. The first guy said it was his cake because he saw it first. The other guy argued that it was his cake because he picked it up first.
The mother finished taking the wrapping off the chocolate bar, and put it on the cutting board in front of her. She then asked the two daughters if that sounded familiar to them and if either of the two guys were right? The two daughters of course started arguing about which one was in the wrong and what should happen next.
The mother calmed the two girls and continued with the parable, “As the two guys were arguing, an older man happened to pass by, and overheard the two of them fighting over their share of the cake. The man approached the two guys and explained that he had a solution to their problem. He told them that he could easily divide the cake into two equal shares. The guys agreed. As soon as they handed over the cake the man cut the cake into two pieces.”
The mother stopped for a second and asked her two girls if that would also be an agreeable solution for them. The two girls, like the guys in the story, agreed. So the mother cut the chocolate bar into two pieces. (One piece appeared slightly larger than the other.)
The mother continued with her story…“As the man cut the two pieces apart it was apparent that they were not the same size. The guys started arguing about which one should get which piece.”
The older man shook his head and said, “Oh no! One piece is slightly bigger than the other. Let me take a bite of the bigger one so it will be the same size as the smaller one.” Then the man took the bite.
As the mother said this she also took the bigger piece of the chocolate bar and took a bite of it, and then continued with the story.
“The older man then saw the mistake he made, “Oh no! The other piece is smaller now.” So the man took a bite of the other piece that was now bigger. As the mother was telling this she did the same with the other half of the chocolate bar. The mother continued telling the story and doing the same with the chocolate bar as the man did in the story with the cake. In the attempt to keep everything even, soon there was no chocolate bar left at all!
The two daughters were shocked. How could this have happened right in front of their eyes?
The mother calmly asked the two daughters, “What is the lesson you learned from this story? Do you think the same would have happened if the two guys would not have argued and would have shared the chocolate bar from the start?”
The two daughters were sad as they realized they were tricked out of their chocolate bar. But both agreed that they were wrong by not sharing the chocolate bar, as it was more than enough for both of them.
The mother was pleased to hear that her two girls learned a valuable lesson, and decided to see if they really had learned a lesson. She pulled a new chocolate bar from her pocket and put it in front of the two girls and asked them, “Who gets the chocolate bar?”
- Author Unknown
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And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:16. NASB
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4 NASB
If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 1 John 3:17-18 NLT
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they are available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format:
If you have a story or testimony that you think might bless others,
I invite you to send it by email to me (Kenneth Kersey) at godsotherways@me.com.
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