Clean Sandwich

Clean Sandwich

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.

Philippians 4:11

After her first day of kindergarten, I asked my daughter how school was. She proceeded to tell me about her teacher, her friends, and the things they did. She paused for a minute and told me that at lunch a little boy in her class had a “clean sandwich.” I was puzzled by the comment but did not question it. Later that week, as I was preparing her lunch, she started talking about the clean sandwich again. She explained how good it looked and how some days she just wanted to snatch it and take a bite out of it!

Tickled, I replied, “It sounds like a really good sandwich.”

A few weeks passed, and one day I forgot to buy bread for the children’s lunch. I asked my husband to pick up a loaf on his way home. Later that night, my husband walked in with a loaf of white bread instead of our normal wheat bread. When my daughter saw it, she was very excited and exclaimed, “Mom! Are you going to make me a clean sandwich?”

“Yes,” I laughed.

The next day I prepared her lunch, and my daughter was so excited about her sandwich she could not think about anything else. After school I asked her how the sandwich was.

She said, “It was okay.”

I asked, “Wasn’t it good?”

“It wasn’t as good as I thought it would be; it tasted almost like the other bread.”

I asked, “Do you understand why we eat wheat instead of white bread?”

She sighed with resignation and said, “Yes, because it’s good for us.”

—Felicia Washington

Father, thank you for giving me what I need for a happy life. Please help me to be content with what you have already provided, because you know what’s best for me, even when it may not be my favorite idea. Amen.