The Family: A Chocolate Chip Cookie

Have you ever heard the saying, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts?" When I first heard this saying, it really made me think. How can this be possible? 2+2=4. How can you add two "numbers" and get a larger number? It never made sense to me. Until it was compared to families.

It was like a light bulb just exploded inside my head. It made me think about my own family. We have the flour, the eggs, the baking soda, the salt, the butter, the brown sugar, the chocolate chips, the sugar, and the vanilla (there are actually more people than that in my family...but there are only so many ingredients...so...). Each by itself is good, maybe even great (you can guess which ingredient I am ;D), but when added together and mixed, one of the most delicious concoctions to ever be eaten on this earth is created: a moist, perfectly golden chocolate chip cookie.

I love to play soccer. I played for eight years, and enjoyed every second (mostly). At my games I played fairly well, maybe even great; but without my family there, cheering me on, embarrassing me, I would have just been two cups of chocolate chips. With them there, the entire game turned into a chocolate chip cookie. This is so important to me because many of us (like me) don't understand the concept of a whole being greater than the sum of its parts. We need to understand. Many parents don't go to their children's sports games (some can't, which I understand) because they don't understand the incredible desert they could turn the game into. Physically, children (and parents) need that cookie. Emotionally, it is even more important to show them that love. 

The teenager that barely speaks to his mom when home from school. The father that just has too much work to do. The sister that thinks only of herself. We are all guilty of these things, we are human after all, and  I am not saying that we have to be perfect because that would be unrealistic. All I'm saying is to be AWARE. That is the key word, right there. To be aware is to understand that becoming a family chocolate chip cookie is challenging, it takes work, and you need all of the ingredients or it will just taste wrong. But to be aware is to desire to become that cookie, everyone working together to become something beautiful, wonderful, and well-worth the work and the wait. 

I, for one, love chocolate chip cookies. So let's make some.

kthanksbye