April 3, 2023 - Ice Cream

     If you have been following the blogs you know that ice cream has a special place in my heart, not to mention my taste buds. 
     There’s not a lot of sodium in most ice cream so I have been trying to use the scientific method to determine if the calories in ice cream are worth it.   I have concluded that the calories are worth it when you are depressed and need a lift, when you are struggling and need some joy, when times are good and you want to celebrate, or when it is just a normal day and there’s no other motivation than the taste.
     But yesterday ice cream took on a whole new realm for me. 
     There are some things that are just in the genes.  Some folks struggle with alcohol because they have a genetic predisposition to alcohol.  It’s in the genes.
     It appears that my grandkids have a genetic predisposition to ice cream.  I have some clue from where that genetic predisposition has been passed down to them.
Megan and Bryan can convince their three girls to eat their meal if the possibility of ice cream might be on the agenda.
     After church we went to a local restaurant that has self-serve ice cream.  Paw Paw  has been the ice cream server at this restaurant for some time.
     The three girls ages 2, 4, and 6 all love ice cream and usually I get the ice cream for them.  Kaylee and Becca jump out of their chairs and we head to the machine just like normal.
     Emma, the  just turned two-year-old, has never taken to me.  It’s hard to believe that a one-year-old is conniving enough to make it a game.  I have never held her for longer than 30 seconds and usually not at all.
     Yesterday there was a breakthrough.  When it came to ice cream time, Emma jumped down, took my hand, and we walked together to the ice cream machine.  I am not sure if the smile on her face or the smile on my face was the bigger smile. 
     I have had lots of breakthroughs in my life, as most of us have.  Some of them have been with other people.  Some have been spiritual issues when God has broken through the pain or heartache.
     None of them has brought any more joy than a two-year-old’s hand wrapped around my finger on the way to and from an ice cream machine.
     Lord, thank you for ice cream.