Cookies & Christ

Summer is finally upon us, and that means summer jobs have started for most students who are home for break. Whether that means busing tables, babysitting, or working at a summer camp, something has to pay the bills that college and the “adult world” leave behind. Lucky for me, I happen to have a secure job at home that I LOVE. For about 30 hours a week, I get to bake cookies with my dad and older sister. That’s right, I get paid to make deliciously warm gooey chocolate chip cookies (and a variety of other flavors) with my family. How great is that?!  My dad has been the manager at our Mrs. Fields Cookies for almost 17 years now, and before that, he & my mom worked together at another cookie store, so I guess you could say that the whole baking cookies business runs in my blood.. Haha, sugar in my blood, get it? I love diabetes jokes. (Disclaimer: I was diagnosed with diabetes PRIOR to my employment at Mrs. Fields and it isn’t related AT ALL) Aside from the sweet (pun intended) perks of free merchandise and having my dad as my boss and my sister around to talk to, it can be a terribly boring job. We’re located in a pretty small mall. Sometimes stores only stay around for a few months or so because rent is so high and numbers are so low. Occasionally we’re busy on rainy weekends with tourists and locals, but other than that, business can be painfully slow. Sometimes I get really frustrated because I feel like my talents could be used for something greater and a lot more important, not just selling cookies to people who complain about our prices (but still continue to buy things from us). You’d be surprised how angry people get at me because I ran out of their favorite cookie 15 minutes before close OR because I dumped old coffee and haven’t had a chance to make more OR because we sell Coke products and not Pepsi.. The list goes on and on and on. But with all of that being said, working in retail in a cruddy little mall has given me a very special gift.

One of the interesting things about working in the mall is that I get to see literally every single kind of person that you can imagine. Old ladies who think they’re still 16? Check. People who spend thousands of dollars on one outfit? Check. High school kids that think they’re thugs? Check. People with teeth, people without teeth, short hair, weird hair, people that smell nice, people that smell not-so-nice, polite people, rude people, single moms, single dads, annoying kids, funny old guys, people high on drugs, huge families, foreign people, people that openly hate foreign people, black, white, yellow, gay, straight, mentally challenged, physically disabled, seemingly normal… You name it, I’ve probably sold them a cookie or two. 

Over my years at Mrs. Fields, I not only have learned how to make small talk with all of these different kinds of people, but I have learned the value of each individual. It doesn’t matter how much money they have or what kind of clothes they're wearing or what kind of education they have or what kind of sin they may be committing… They all have the same value as people, which is infinite. Jesus Christ loves them, and died for them. That’s right, that means you, too. Jesus loves you and died for you. He saw how messed up your life would be and how many times you would choose sin over His love and chose to die for you anyway. He saw the alcoholic who left his family and chose to die for him. He saw the "slut" who is constantly rude to everyone and chose to die for her. I think that sometimes, that can be a hard truth to swallow for many Christians and non-Christians alike (myself included). How can a perfect God look upon something so imperfect as a human and think “You are mine and I love you”? For a long time of my life, I don’t think that I really believed that the Lord loved each and every one of us infinitely. Maybe He loved me that much, but the guy who just sold some drugs or robbed a bank..? No way could God love someone like that. “At least I’m trying to be holy, so that’s why God loves me. I’ve earned His love. I worked hard for Him to love me. People who commit big sins like that can’t possibly be loved by God..” WRONG WRONG WRONG, WOW I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO WRONG. God doesn’t love me because I did something great to earn it, God loves me because He is Love. Same goes for you! You don’t need to prove yourself or become His favorite to get Him to love you. HE ALREADY DOES. If we’re being realistic here, none of us will ever be “worthy” of the amazing love that God pours out on us, but He doesn’t care about that. Just because you exist, He loves you. Literally the fact that you're alive to read this right now is proof that God loves you. You wouldn't exist if He didn't love you!  Now you may be wondering something along the lines of… How could anyone love a broken, poor, dirty, sinful, (sometimes) evil person? How could anyone continue to love someone even after they have chosen to walk away? Honestly, I don’t know, I’m not God. He’s infinite and can love infinitely, and my little finite mind will never be able to comprehend all of that.

But this is what I do know..

The customer who yelled at me over a frosted sugar cookie? Jesus loves them.

The guy you saw last week begging for change on the side of the road? Jesus loves him.

The woman who was just arrested for armed robbery? Jesus loves her.

The person that no one talks to because they’re weird and smell bad? Jesus loves them.

Sitting there wondering what the point of your existence is? Jesus loves you.

Weighed down by sin? Jesus loves you.

“But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” –Romans 5:8

Boom, baby. Your worth is infinite and you are loved by an infinite God.

Who knew working at a cookie store could be so educational?