Last, when I took my children to a restaurant, my six-year-old son asked if he could say grace.
We bowed our head and he started, “God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for all!
Amen!”
All the other customers were laughing and I heard a woman said, “That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why I never!”
My son started to cry hearing this and asked me, “Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?”
I held him and said that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him. Then an elderly gentleman approached the table, winked at my son and said,
“I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer.”
“Really?” my son asked.
The man said, “Cross my heart”.
He said in a theatrical whisper by indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing, “Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes.”
At the end of the meal, I bought my kids ice cream. My little son stared at the ice cream and did something I would never forget in my lifetime.
Without a word he picked up his sundae and walked over and placed it in front of that woman. He told her with a big smile, “Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes, and my soul is good already.”