Thursday Thoughts - When Size is Confusing

I'm not talking about my size.  But rather I am talking about food portion size at fast food places.  And as I contemplated how confusing size of food and drinks can be, it made me realize another lesson as Lent 2021 comes to a close.

Last Saturday I drove down to the Croton Harmon station area to watch the sun set at a park there.  It was a nice drive down, a great location to watch the sun set, and someplace I want to go back to.  But, because of the timing of the drive, I wasn't able to have dinner at home with the family and it would be too late for me to eat when I got home.  I decided a quick stop at Wendy's for some chicken nuggets and a drink would be enough for me, especially because I had a late lunch. I ordered a set of 10 chicken nuggets and I was feeling like a lemonade, so I ordered a medium lemonade, because I figured it wouldn't be too small but not too large either.

A medium lemonade from Wendy's

So, there is my medium lemonade from Wendy's.  The size of the cup is HUGE.  Or at least, huge for a medium.  I was expecting something much smaller.

Not that I am complaining about the size.  I didn't drink the whole thing because after a certain point in the day I do need to stop drinking caffeinated and sugary drinks and switch completely to water.  So it made for a great drink the next day.  And I was pleased with the amount of drink I got for the price I paid.  But it made me think a lot about size being confusing.  Had I known this was a "medium" I might have ordered a small instead.  I brought it home and showed it to Anastasia and she said, "That's not a medium!  That's a large!"

But then you go to other places, ask for a "medium" and you get something that is the size of a child's drink.  Or you ask for a "large" and it is the size of a medium.  A snack size McFlurry looks like a child's drink with a regular size not being much larger.  Sometimes what you pay is not worth what you get.

But sometimes what you get is worth way more than you paid.

This goes for more than just food though.  We're coming to the end of Lent and I'm just thinking about how, compared to Jesus, we paid nothing for the forgiveness and grace that we receive.  What we receive is endless love from God, endless forgiveness, and endless grace.  Compared to what Jesus did, so that we could have all that, we did or paid essentially nothing.  It doesn't seem like nothing...but we didn't endure torture and give up our lives for it.  That is what Jesus did for us.

So, while the size of my lemonade shocked me, it gave me a good lesson that I needed to remember.