Paul watched as his mother carefully removed two beautiful lemon meringue pies from the oven and set them on the kitchen table.
“I don’t want you to touch these pies, Paul,” she warned. “They’re for dinner tomorrow.”
Paul promised that he would leave the pies alone. But that would be a hard promise to keep for a five-year-old boy who loved meringue! He could hardly wait for the next day to come when they could eat the pies. Meanwhile, he tried to forget about them.
But that night, Paul had to go through the kitchen on his way to bed. There on the table sat the pies. Paul looked around the room ... no one was in sight.
Tiptoeing over to the kitchen table, he reached out a small finger and scooped off a gob of meringue. Oh, it tasted soooo delicious! But what should he do about the big hole he had made in the meringue? His mother would be sure to notice it in the morning. Paul had an idea ... if he ate all the meringue, his mother might think she had forgotten to put any on. Soon he had eaten the meringue off both pies. Feeling rather guilty, and very full, he went to bed.
In the morning when Paul woke up, he remembered what he had done. He wondered if his mother knew. Then he heard voices in the kitchen. His mother and father were talking about pies — lemon meringue pies. His heart started pounding furiously; surely, any minute they would come into his room to ask him about them.
Climbing out of bed, Paul walked slowly to the kitchen, his knees shaking.
“Paul!” his mother exclaimed, when she saw him. “Did you eat the meringue off those pies?”
“Yes,” Paul mumbled with his head down. He felt miserable. He knew that he had disobeyed and that he deserved to be punished.
Paul’s mother was very unhappy about the pies. They were supposed to have guests for dinner that evening, and her beautiful lemon meringue pies were ruined! She had to start all over to make new meringue as quickly as she could.
But then, perhaps because of his honesty, even though Paul had disobeyed, his parents forgave him. Then they went even further and showed him kindness ... he got a piece of lemon meringue pie at dinner.
Did you know that showing mercy, or kindness, is something God loves to do? He tells us in His book, the Bible, that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:2323For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)), and “all” means you and me. We might not like to hear that, but we can’t hide anything from God, because God knows every single thing we have ever done. Thankfully, God also said that whoever confesses and forsakes their sins will have mercy ... kindness from God. (See Proverbs 28:1313He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13).) God can show mercy to you and me if we confess to Him that we are sinners and accept His gift of salvation. God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was punished for sins, so that God can show kindness and forgive sinners. And God does so much more than forgive us for our sins. In His kindness, He makes us His own sons and daughters, with so many wonderful gifts that we can only begin to discover them in this life!
Messages of God’s Love 7/6/2025