December 21 – “DadDad Parchment”

Have you had one of those minor moral dilemmas yet this holiday season?  You know.  The kind where the situation really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.  No one will ever know about your decision one way or the other.  And if they did, they would probably be totally confused as to why you saw it as an issue in the first place.    Here's my example.  I was determined to get as much preparation for the Christmas Eve service done today as I could.  I also wanted to finish my "Dad Gifts."  Every year I try to come up with some extremely appropriate gifts for my kids and wife and mother.  The rarely cost much, if anything.  It is truly a case of "It's the thought that counts."  Mainly because I also include a brief description of why that gift fits that person.  It's a lot of fun for everyone – as long as it's not your turn.  I combined the two goals and set out this morning on a quest to complete.  I began at the Dollar Store.  It is amazing what they have that no one else in the retail world has.  I immediately found one of the things I was looking for.  It was perfect for what I had in mind for Kel.  There were a few other things as well, but I still had to make a WalMart run.  That's where I planned to pick up the paper for the bulletin.  Lanny and I talked about it Sunday.  It was obvious he really wanted parchment, but he was willing to settle for the paper I already had.  I decided to go ahead and buy some of the parchment and surprise him.  That done, and satisfied with the present choices as well, I headed back home to wrap the gifts and print the bulletins.   I started with the gifts, because I wanted to be sure they were done before Chris got home.  All was going well when I ran out of tape after the second gift.  It's not that I was being overly generous like I hear Cory Anderson is when he wraps gifts.  We just ran out of tape.  And I couldn't find any anywhere.  That meant another trip to WalMart.  Not bad in and of itself.  It's just that it is getting into the afternoon and I was getting sleepy.  I'm waiting to see if that is a side effect of the new medicine.  It sure hits regularly in the early afternoon ever since I started on it.  But the tape.  Not a problem.  Back home, I easily finished up the wrapping and hiding.    Then I could concentrate on the printing.  I pulled one of the sheets from the brand new box and ran off a copy of the bulletin.  I folded it over to look at it, and realized that this was not the parchment paper I thought I picked up.  It was nice paper.  But not parchment.  Hence cometh the dilemma.  I only used one sheet of the hundred in the box.  All I had to do was grab the receipt and take it back to WalMart.  They would never question it.  I could make an even exchange and be back home in minutes.  Not that I wanted to go out again.  But if I had to go out, why not get the paper for a swap?    But the box said there was 100 sheets of paper within.  If I took it back, that would not be true.  I would be causing WalMart to lie.  And that would be on me.  The right thing to do would be eat the cost of the paper, buy the parchment, and move on.    Guilty conscience?  Or Holy Spirit?  We will have parchment Thursday evening.  And I paid for it.  Again.  It felt right.  It was right.  Didn't matter how I felt.   1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."   Father, it feels a lot better not to do it in the first place than to do it and have to get forgiveness later.  Thank you for your Holy Spirit.  Amen.