Target. For mommies (and grandmommies), it’s the land of bright and cheery aisles, fun and affordable style, and the Dollar Aisle. For kiddos, it’s the land of the free cookie.

Well, at least for one kiddo I know.

Brody likes to go to Target for that one reason. When I told him we were going to there to get some clearance winter barn wear to keep at my house (you know, for this frigid 70 degree weather we’ve been having), all he heard was “Target…cookie.” So, of course, he was completely on board.

I got him settled into their newest carts that don’t rattle, squeal, or get off kilter, gliding along as if on air (yes, they’re my favorite), and he immediately gazed longingly at the bakery on the other end of the store with a look that said “Get crackin’ lady!” And, off we went.

Seeing the woman behind the counter, he took matters into his own hands and said, “May I have a cookie, pwease?” Smiling, she stopped for a moment out of our sight, then came around with a cookie wrapped in a pastry tissue. He’d already told me he was going to get a BIG cookie, with exactly that much emphasis, so when she held out a cookie that was very much an average size, his face fell. I reminded him to say thank you, and then we were off, as he continued to stare at the cookie held aloft in his hand.

“What’s wrong, Brody?”

Looking up, incredulous, then lifting the cookie to my face since I was obviously blind, he answered, “It’s a BABY cookie!”

“Buddy, that’s a regular size cookie, and it looks delicious!”

“I wanted a BIG cookie!” Then, with a decidedly indignant face, he dropped it with a thud on the seat next to him, causing part of it to break off and fly onto the floor.

Indignance giving way to horror he said, “It broke! I need another one!”

“No sir, now you only have part of the cookie to eat. It’s even smaller now because you weren’t happy to just get be getting a cookie at all.”

Surprising me, he spared me a meltdown and just ate it, but he wasn’t happy about it. I couldn’t be too mad at his ungrateful behavior, however, because I’ve done the same thing about a million and two times. Instead of being satisfied with what I’ve been given, I, too, have done the dance of entitlement, feeling I deserve bigger and better.

And you know what? You have, too.

We all have. We’ve become a society of stressed out people, raising stressed out children, because we strive for more, strive to be more, and come to expect more. We are counters of what we don’t and should have, instead of opening our eyes to the abundance we do.

It’s never too early to teach a child the art of satisfaction.

Or an adult, for that matter.

A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. ~ 1 Timothy 6:6-8 MSG