Tempted

Last week, I was tempted. I'll start at the beginning. Early in the morning I was rushed so of course the thing that goes out the window when I am rushing is my prayer time. As I am driving into work I realized that I forgot to pray. Then I was angry at myself, and promising God to pray as soon as I got the chance. Anyway, at work I had to leave my office and drive to the visitor center parking lot to go into one of the classrooms to work. (That is a normal work day for me.) As I pulled in the lot I noticed the arm on the ticket dispenser was up, so I went ahead and pulled in. Since the arm of the ticket dispenser was up I assumed the dispenser was broken and did not push the button to get one of those hot pink tickets. I found a place to park and then went into the building. Once inside I sat at a location where I was able to look out of the classroom window and see the parking lot ticket dispenser. I watched as people would pull up in their cars and push the button and then not receive a hot pink parking pass. Most of them continued into the lot and proceeded to park. (Although, I did see several people turn around and come out of the entrance to the parking lot. That entrance is one way! I guess I will be slowing down when I turn into the lot from now on, now that I know people are exiting the one way entrance.) As I watched the parking lot ticket dispenser and all the cars, I finally saw the parking lot attendant come to the dispenser and adjust the arm so that it was lowered to prevent people from driving straight into the lot. She also fixed the ticket dispenser. Now when people entered the lot they were forced to slow down and push the button for a ticket, then the arm would raise and they could enter the lot to park. The arm was finally fixed at about 10:15 am. (I arrived in the lot at 9:00 am.)

Now fast forward a couple of hours. It was time for me to leave. As I left the parking lot I suddenly had this inner turmoil. Actually, temptation is what it really was. I thought, I could tell the attendant that I had arrived at 10:00 am and save myself some money in parking fees. As I approached the exit the thoughts continued; no, it is best to tell the truth and pay the extra fee. So when I arrived at the booth I told the attendant the truth. I told her that I had arrived there at 9:00 am. To my surprise she only charged me from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. She said, 'I only wanted to charge you two dollars.'

I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I do strive to be honest. It was a momentary thought that I did not act on. However, when things are tight financially, as they are for everyone in this economy right now, I was tempted to try to stimulate my own economy. As I left God showed me the double blessing I had received in being honest. If I had lied to the parking attendant, I would have carried the guilt of that all day, but had an extra dollar in my wallet. Now, I am fortunate to carry the double blessing of honoring God with my actions, and having the extra dollar in my wallet.