Just one little bite.

I have been working an event for the last four days down at the University of Phoenix. It's a very important event for Bruce Brown Catering because we are bidding to be the contracted caterer for the college. One rule is very clear. Servers cannot eat in the room at anytime, if we need to take a break to eat we can go to the store room we have set up. I know the rules. I help enforce them. Today I was in there alone, between breakfast and the morning break. I was very very tired...and I was hungry. I had started working at 5:30AM and I needed something to keep me awake. So I ate a small biscotti...and sat in my little chair. I started to nod off. So I got up and walked around the room...toward the bread basket. Quickly I made a decision, I snatched a mini bagel and a cream cheese packet in one motion and headed back to my chair. I prepared my little snack, threw away my trash, settled in and took a bite....and my boss walked in. He was the first person I had seen in 20 minutes. I tried to quickly hide what I had done, I swallowed without even chewing. Of course, he scolded me, chatted for a minute or so and left the room. I felt so guilty. Of course, I was sitting in a room all alone so I had time to "sit quietly and think about what I'd done". 


Was it wrong to eat a bagel? No. But it was against the rules. So, is is WRONG to break the rules? Maybe. No one likes to obey rules. We all know that rules are there for a purpose...to keep order in life...but those rules rarely apply to us as individuals. No, the rules are for everyone else. But I am part of everyone else to someone else. Suddenly I felt like Eve. I ate something I KNEW wasn't meant for me, did something I KNEW I was not supposed to do. Then when I was caught, I tried to hide it. I've always wondered how Eve could have been so stupid, she ruined paradise for herself and all of us, when she had everything she needed. 


Today I realized, once again, that if even if Eve didn't sin, I would have. Because I'm human. Because I think the rules don't apply to me. Because it's just food and I was hungry. Because it looked good. Because I am a sinner. 


It was something so small. Just a bagel...but it made me feel ashamed. Because I was naked and bare before God.