I read a story recently about a little girl who, while she was setting the table for dinner, started playing with the utensils, making them talk to each other. Suddenly she looked at her mother and declared, "If I had to choose, I'd be a spoon."
"A spoon," her mother replied, intrigued. "Why would you want to be a spoon?"
"Well," the girl explained, "Forks are too grabby, always stabbing stuff and taking it like it's theirs. Knives are scary, they cut things, and you can't really eat with them, just slice things up. But," the little girl continued, holding a shiny spoon in front of her face, "spoons can scoop up lots of stuff and even pass it around. They are nice and round and smooth and friendly."
It is rather amazing that the little girl's analysis of silverware was right on the nose. But it is also revealing about how we as pastors' wives operate sometimes. Are we forks? Do we want to just "take" from people, never seeming to have enough to satisfy us, so we are constantly on the look out for something more and better? Do we stab our sisters when the opportunity presents itself? What about knives? Are we trying to control the circumstances because we are fixated on what's before us—figuring out how we can cut people into what we want them to be. Are we the sharp blade that slices off anything we find offensive, dissecting the heart out of people's dreams? Or are we spoons? Spoon people are adaptable. Whether its steaming soup or freezing ice cream, they can scoop it up and serve. And spoon people stir things up in a good sort of way.
In my good set of silverware there are twice as many spoons as there are anything else. Maybe there is a lesson there. I want to be a spoon. How about you?
Your friend in Jesus,
Sharon
