About midway through the pandemic, my favorite donut shop near my home finally opened to in-person customers in the lobby. Prior to that it was drive through only. When I say it is hard to take young grandchildren – ages 6, 4 and 3 at the time through a drive through to pick out a donut, that is an understatement. So I never tried. When they finally opened back to full service, I could not wait to walk my young grands into the donut shop to pick out their favorite delectable treat.

It took a few minutes for their eyes to focus on the one they thought would be their favorite. The oldest boy picked the chocolate glazed donut. The 4-year-old, who still to this day allows me to call him by his pet name “Ducky,” picked a plain glazed donut with colorful sprinkles on top. The 3-year-old girl chose a donut with pink icing and bedazzled with sprinkles from every color in the rainbow. The very nice and even more patient lady behind the counter put each donut carefully in its own individual box and handed them their purchase as I sent them to the table one by one. While I was paying up, Ducky comes back up to the counter crying. Getting eye level with his tears, I asked him what was wrong. He told me his donut was broken. “Broken?” I said, “come show me.” He returned momentarily with his donut box with the donut still inside. When he opened the lid, with tears still rolling down his face, the donut looked as pristine as when the cashier carefully placed it in the box. “How is it broken?” I asked. To which Ducky
responded, “there’s a hole in it!” I comforted my sweet boy and convinced him his donut was not broken, but how it was intended to be.

I think people are a lot like donuts. We get all dressed up and bedazzled to camouflage our flaws and brokenness to the world. Everything looks fine on the outside, but there is a hole in the middle caused by who knows what! Remember that as you encounter people on your day-to-day journey. We are all just a little bit broken, so be kind.

On the journey,
Ramonalynn Bethley

Ramonalynn Bethley is the pastor at First United Methodist Church of Alexandria. If you would like to contact Ramonalynn, email her at DrRevRL@fumca.org.