who *are* you?

After dinnertime one evening, Kyle approached me with a question.

"Mom, does God like, not like, or really not like it when I put healthy food in the garbage?"

"Uh...why do you ask?" I responded, rather surprised.

"I just put my peas in the garbage," he answered.

"Well, honey, I don't really know how God feels about it. I don't think the Bible speaks to that. I know that it makes me sad when good food goes in the trash, but I really don't know how God feels about it."

That was the extent of our exchange, until about ten minutes later. It was then that I found him, anxious, reaching into the garbage can.

"Did you drop a spoon in, or something?"

He looked up at me. "No, I - I..." his voice trailed off, and then he suddenly burst into tears. "I didn't eat my peas and I think I should have!"

I wasn't surprised any longer; I was shocked. Sure, we encourage the consumption of vegetables in our house. We certainly don't allow dessert or anything along those lines, without finishing one's dinner. But this? This was definitely new.

He was standing in front of me, sobbing. I hugged him, questioning, "Where is this coming from?" He didn't answer.

I told him we had some peas left - in the serving bowl. Would he like me to serve him some? He nodded, his eyes full of tears. So I got him a little dish of peas, and he ended up eating his vegetables, after all.

I have no inspired moral to the story. I have no idea where this came from. All I know is this: it was bizarre.

Peas: generally healthy for your body, but as far as I know, not a moral issue. There's quite enough drama in life, people. Let's leave the vegetables out of it.