As told to Werner Peters...
A woman was shopping in a busy mall one day. She was exhausted as she pushed her full shopping cart past the food court, milling with people. The aroma of coffee grabbed her and drew her in. She bought a cup of coffee and a Kit Kat bar, then turned to find a place to rest her weary feet for awhile. The only empty seat she could find was right across from an older gentleman who himself was sipping a cup of coffee.
She asked if he minded that she sat across from him, to which he shook his head. Sitting down, she picked up the Kit Kat bar, (she just loved the combination of chocolate and coffee) and tore the wrapper off, broke off a piece and set the bar back down. To her utter amazement, the man smiled awkwardly, picked up the bar, broke off a piece and ate it. Now she is thinking, “This is odd. Maybe the guy is really hungry and can’t afford his own. I better eat another chunk before he eats it all.” She takes another piece and crams it in her mouth. Almost immediately, as if he is in competition with her, grabs another piece and sticks it in his mouth. “Well,” she thinks, “I’m not going to let him get away with this. Not even a word of thanks. How rude!” And she stuffs the rest of the bar in her mouth and walks away in a huff, not even finishing her cup of coffee.
She remembers that she has another item to pick up in the store. After her purchases are complete, she heads towards the exit, and there at the food court, is the same man, stirring another coffee, and this time he has a muffin in front of him on the table. This incensed the woman, because obviously he could afford his own food, so in anger and without thinking, she stomped over to where he was, picked up the muffin, and tore off the top of the muffin and slammed the remainder down on the table as the man watched her in utter shock and amazement.
"That’ll teach him!” she thought to herself as she stomped off in her self-righteous huff, pushing her shopping cart towards the exit. Still enjoying the sensation of vindication and justice being satisfied, she arrived at her car in the parking lot, reached into her purse for her keys, and as she did so, there she found her unwrapped Kit Kat chocolate bar
How many Christians live in disharmony, in dissonance with one another, because of a misunderstanding, or because of something as insignificant as a Kit Kat bar. How quickly we can get into an argument, and how quickly an argument turns into an all out war. And on a larger scale, these arguments turn into knives, and guns and missiles and bombs, and no one wants to forgive, and no one exercises grace, and no one will deny themselves the right of revenge.
And it can all begin with a few crumbs of a muffin or a chocolate bar.