We held a garage sale today with the purpose of giving our proceeds to our missionary friends as they leave for a term on the field. The idea was actually yours. We were praying one night for them, and asking God to help give them the money necessary to go to this other country, so that they could tell people about Jesus. Parker you said,"I've got a great idea! We could give them money if we sell our toys!" Then Kent, you jumped in, "We could have a garage sale!" And the idea as born...
Our Cul-de-sac has had an annual garage sale every May for several years, so we jumped in and joined the party. I think 7 houses participated.
We also decided to have you boys sell lemonade, white chocolate pretzles, and Little Debbie Snacks. You boys were rockin' the "snack shop". One customer paid you $7 for a 25 cent cup of lemonade. Several others put money in your cup, and said, "drink my lemonade for me." All of the other houses in the cul-de-sac said, "Wow! What a great idea!".
Wouldn't you know, a few hours later in the day, some of the other kids in the neighborhood decided that they wanted in on the action. They got together and started their own lemonade stand. The kids responsible for the new lemonade stand live at the end of the block, but they carried their table and set up shop right at the entrance to our sub-division. They very arrogantly strutted past you with their items in tow. You both were near tears. Not me. I love me some good competition!!
Parker, you were crushed when you saw that they copied you and started another business. You said, "But I want the money so I could give it to the missionaries!"
Daddy and I felt so bad for you. First off, you had the idea originally. And you are 7. It really surprised me that the same people have lived on this cul-de-sace for 7 years, and have had a garage sale very year, and no one else thought of this. Lemonade stands were standard at garage sales when I was a kid!
Regardless, I told you to take the imitation as flattery. When that didn't work, I told you that God would bless your business because it was for missionaries. When that didn't work I then pointed out the fact the "competitors" were selling lemonade for 50 cents, and yours was only a quarter (I got a stellar deal on lemonade), and that's why they weren't going to sell a lot. When that didn't work I reminded you that you had snacks to offer, and they did not. Finally, I told you the plain truth and said, "People will buy from you cause you're littler and cuter. Trust me." That put a smile on your faces. Seriously now, who can resist someone saying "Do you wanna buy some wemonade?"
And boy, was I right. You ROCKED the sales. Literally...we ran out of pretzels quickly, and we went through almost all of our lemonade. After three hours of grueling salesmanship, you were getting hot, and you boys had enough. Parker, you were the later morning shift, and several times you wanted to quit. I encouraged you to tough it out, because the longer you stayed out there, the more money you'd make for the missionaries, and more people would hear about Jesus. I'm so proud of you both for thinking of others before yourself. We treated you to Pizza Hut for all of your hard work.
The competitor in me is creeping in...Next year we're going to have coffee and muffins for the first two hours, and then move to lemonade, sweet tea, and snacks for the remainder of the time. You are both so meek...I'm gonna teach you to step-up, and not back down when a road block presents itself.
Our grand total was $35 (that's a lot of lemonade!) for the snack shop, and our total for the garage sale overall will be a nice gift for our dear friends who we will miss so much when they go on the field.
Lessons learned today
1)Doing something for others is fun
2)Competition makes you stronger
3)Big blue eyes can melt anyone's heart
4)When you do something nice for others, Mom and Dad buy you pizza.
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