Mushy Marshmallows

Mushy Marshmallows

Bible Blast: Read Genesis 25:27-34

Be self-controlled and alert. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)

Many years ago Stanford University conducted the Great Marshmallow Experiment. They took four-year-olds individually into a room with a marshmallow sitting on the table. The scientist told each child that he needed to leave the room for a moment and that he or she could eat the marshmallow. But if the child waited, he or she could have two marshmallows instead when the scientist returned. Some of the kids grabbed that mushy marshmallow the moment the door closed. Others waited—sometimes for twenty minutes—so they could have two.

Fourteen years later, the scientist compared the children who ate the marshmallow right away and those who waited. Guess what? The ones who waited scored higher on tests. They also tended to be more self-controlled and became teens making positive, good choices as opposed to poor decisions like shoplifting, cheating, or drinking underage. Learning to wait is a critical skill for lifelong success.

Esau traded the lasting benefits of his birthright—or family inheritance—for an immediate pleasure, a bowl of stew. (Sounds a lot like those kids who could not keep their hands off the marshmallow.) Esau exaggerated his hunger when he said, “I’m about to die.” He wasn’t going to die, and he could have waited. Instead, he acted impulsively and did not pause to consider what his choice would mean in the long run. It meant that the honor of continuing the family leadership now belonged to Jacob. From that day on, it was destined that we would refer to God as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Esau lost a lot when he slurped up that bowl of soup.

It’s easy to be like Esau. Sometimes we just see something and want it, so we go after it. But it’s better to think things over and consider what will happen.

If that experiment were conducted today, which group would you be in: the group that took one marshmallow or the group that waited and got the reward of having two?

Girl Gab: Mom, tell your daughter if you’re a one-marshmallow girl or a two-marshmallow girl. Then ask her what she thinks she is. Take some time to discuss this, and make suggestions so you can both be more self-disciplined. Daughter, grab some marshmallows out of the cupboard, and enjoy a whole handful! (Or put them on Mom’s shopping list.)