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Cookie Thieves

A great object lesson about Jumping to conclusions. And you might find yourself laughing at the results.

 She bought a magazine and a small pack of cookies and sat at a crowded airport lunch counter. 

To her disbelief, the man next to her opened her package of cookies and ate one!

Indignant, she shoved the remaining cookies into her purse, got up, and left. 

When she looked back, she couldn't believe the man was actually smiling!

Thirty minutes later when her plane took off, she reached into her purse for the cookies, proud of how restrained she'd been with the cookie thief. 

 But instead of one package of cookies, she found two identical packages, one opened and one unopened. 

To her horror she realized she'd just stolen cookies from the smiling man at the counter. He was the one who'd shown incredible restraint, not her. 

This story illustrates a good point: Jumping to conclusions is foolish. We need to get our facts straight before judging ourselves or others.

 Many relationship problems stem from misunderstandings and hasty conclusions.

“The one who gives an answer before he listens-- this is foolishness and disgrace for him.” Proverbs 18:13

“The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.”  Proverbs 18:17

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For more on this subject, see: Don't Bother Me With the Facts and Clouded Mirrors and Wrong Conclusions.

You can find this story with various differences in numerous articles and videos. I heard it years ago and first wrote about it in 2015. I'm not sure of the source or whether it actually happened, but it's a great illustration for our need to be careful about judging people or situations. This is especially true now that AI is so widely used. I've read news stories or watched a YouTube video that I thought was real, only to find out it was fake news. And the same is true about gossip and misunderstandings in relationships. If we aren't sure of our facts, we can be guilty of slander.



A great object lesson about Jumping to conclusions. And you might find yourself laughing at the results.



BLN

8 comments:

  1. JESNovember 19, 2015 at 5:20 AM

    Oh wow!! What a great story and illustration!

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  2. UnknownNovember 19, 2015 at 8:28 AM

    Actually this story is like the one that Douglas Adams tells in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe science fiction trilogy that Arthur tells his girlfriend Trillian. It is so hilarious as each man keeps taking a cookie and Arthur is furious and silent as the whole packet is eaten and he picks up his paper to leave and his packet is underneath! LOLOLOL! Love that story and it has a great lesson!

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  3. Krystal ZollingerNovember 21, 2015 at 6:07 AM

    I can see myself reacting this way too! Especially if it involved cookies🍪🍪🍪

    ReplyDelete
  4. 72dougSeptember 19, 2016 at 11:01 PM

    a wonderful story, Gail! we cannot jump to conclusions, instead we need to get our facts straight first.

    ReplyDelete
  5. MrsMomMay 2, 2018 at 2:19 PM

    <3

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownFebruary 5, 2021 at 1:52 PM

    thank u LORD

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rick AdelmannAugust 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM

    WOW! This one sure hit home. I was working at a group of wearhouses as a security guard. The area is so large that I used my bicycle to get around. It was a bright orange beach cruiser. Halfway through the day I spotted a man riding, what I thought wasmy bike! I don't remember ever seeing another bright orange bicyles before and thought he had stolen mine. To make it worse, he didn't speak English. So after I made a fool of myself, accusing him of stealing, he pointed to the side of one of the warehouses. Ther stood my bike. I learned the leasson of humility that day!! And, I also learned how to communicate without language. He smiled cheerily, understanding my error. We shook hands and departed as friends.

    ReplyDelete