Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Phillipians 2:3-4 (TNIV)
Last night after a very stressful day at work, we decided it was a pizza night. We loaded up the fam and headed to the Pizza Hut. It is funny, a few years ago, we were regulars at our local Pizza Hut, however, in the past couple years, we have ventured out a little and don't go there quite as much. But back then, it was weekly and it was often an extended-family affair. Our family, my parents and my brother and his family would all go over and enjoy some pizza, salad and breadsticks.
As we placed our order last night, this subject was brought up, yet again. So I must share with you one particular story that occurred while dining out with the fam at the Pizza Hut many years ago...because Jay will NOT let it go.
When the whole clan went, we always ordered breadsticks. You can order a small order which is five breadsticks, or a family order which is ten. A small order comes with one small container of sauce and the family order comes with two. There are two choices when ordering sauces: the red sauce or the cheese sauce. The typical choice of the Quackfamily (at that time) was the red sauce. No question about it. And whether Jay likes it or not, he is a part of the Quackfamily.
This particular evening, the waitress came by and took our order and we ordered the family size breadsticks. She then proceeded to ask what sauce we wanted, and I answered that we wanted the red sauce. Jay spoke up and said he would like a cheese sauce with that too. I'm not sure what made Jay decide he could insert his opinion in there (just kidding...ha) but I was rattled. If you get a cheese sauce, I told him, then all six of us will be sharing one small container of red sauce and you will get the entire little tub of cheese to yourself. That is selfish.
If I had known that those words would haunt me for YEARS, I certainly would've never said them. Here's the thing, I dearly love cheese. It is actually right up there with chocolate for me. But... and you knew there was one...I prefer the red sauce with my breadsticks and I like lots of it. And to be perfectly honest, IF there ever is red sauce left, I eat it with the knife (since there isn't a spoon)...that's right, I empty that little bitty container, almost wipe it clean. How could each of us get a good portion of red sauce for our breadstick when there is barely a quarter cup of it in that one little tub? I don't know about you, but I would much rather have my breadstick with sauce so this was a problem for me.
Of course, this lead to a "discussion" about who was being selfish. Wasn't I really the one being selfish? Because, after all, Jay really liked the cheese sauce and he could never get the cheese sauce because no one else liked it, yada, yada, yada. Well, I didn't really think so at the time, and now maybe, just a teeny tiny bit, I see a small inkling of selfishness by me telling him he couldn't have the cheese sauce, but it also really does make sense to me. Six people dipping into one container versus one person dipping into one container...you get it, don't ya? It's okay, I know you do.
Last night Jay had to rehash the whole disagreement to my kids, who, I could tell, never quite understood the big deal (yeah, uh-huh, me either). After we ordered our breadsticks, he told them that ordering cheese sauce means you're selfish and just smiled. I was so tired, all I could do was giggle. I didn't have it in me to debate this subject matter for the hundredth time. I figured I just had to share this with you and dig up a verse to rub it in a little. I can't even tell you if we ended up with the cheese sauce and a red sauce or two red sauces that night, but I'm guessing there is someone that remembers...
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