This was clearly not an act of willful disobedience. As such, it was a side-splitting moment of hilarity, not a cause for punishment, and the very wise mother handled it as such.
I was preaching to a great group of young people and afterward we stayed around for a fellowship such as can only be found in good ol’ church circles: barbecue chicken, homemade ‘nanner (“banana,” for the grammatically rigid) pudding, biscuits and, to top it off, a beautifully decorated cake.
The cake itself was huge, enough to feed five times as many people as were in attendance. Everyone had already come around for a piece or two, and folks were just sitting around talking, enjoying sweet fellowship.
We were seated about five feet from the cake. A little fellow, cute as a button, made his way to the cake, and the closer he got, the bigger his eyes got. Trembling with excitement, he reached out and stuck his finger in the cake, then put his frosting-covered finger in his mouth.
His mother immediately said, “No! Don’t put your finger in that cake!”