The Parable of the Birthday Muffin

One day a woman was going out for an errand when she saw a friend at a pastry shop. She jokingly asked the friend if she could buy her her favorite muffin. The woman said that her birthday was coming.

The woman had not eaten her favorite muffin in a while and she  was dying for a bite. Of course, the woman’s friend bought it for her; she would’ve any other day, but especially for her birthday.

So the woman placed her tasty-looking free muffin in her pocket and went on her errand. She had planned to eat half of the muffin and half to give to another friend. It was then she chanced upon a pale-faced, exhausted-looking stranger walking towards her direction. The stranger looked faint from walking and so the woman asked him if he needed any help. The stranger said yes. It turned out the stranger was going to visit a family member who was sick. As the woman helped the stranger to his destination, he divulged that he was diabetic and had not eaten and was feeling faint.  For a moment, the woman thought about the  muffin in her pocket. She thought about how yummy it was and maybe the stranger will not be able to eat it since he’s diabetic and sugar is bad for a diabetic. These strange thoughts came to her mind as she tried to hold on to the muffin in her pocket. She wondered how she was given her birthday muffin only for her to give it away.

Finally,the woman  decided to give the stranger the muffin. She did not make it to her errand as her feet were sore from all the walking (She was wearing  ill-fitting shoes, this woman) Taking the  stranger had taken her off her route.

So the woman  went on her way with pocket empty and sore feet.

At the end of the day, her other friend with whom   she was to share her muffin  presented  her  with half of a delicious, green pear. It was juicy and crunchy. The woman was amazed. Indeed, a pear for a muffin.  A healthier choice, she would say.

She gives away her muffin, and her God gives her a pear. What a funny God! What a playful God! What an awesome God! A God of the minute details of her life! 

Think and ponder on the meaning of this parable.