Getting More Than You Bargained For

As a little girl growing up on Bull Run Road, few things excited me more than having over night company. This was largely due to the fact that my social circle was otherwise confined to my two older sisters. I wish those two didn’t live in adjoining states. I miss them something awful now, but back in the day, I had more of their company than I cared to enjoy.

Sometimes, I would lose my mind and beg my parents to let a friend stay overnight– in front of that friend. Bad move right there. It put Mama in a bad spot and me in a worse one. “You’re about to get more than you bargained for,” Mama would say.

In other words, I was being asked to consider the consequences of my behavior before it was too late. To get more than you bargain for was a favorite expression of Mama’s. It’s an idiom that means getting something in addition to what you’re expecting. It’s never a pleasant surprise but it is rebellion’s famous calling card. It reminds me of an old quote, Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.

Nowhere is that truth more easily seen than in the garden of Eden when man first rebelled against  God. Here’s how it reads in Genesis. “Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

Our first parents reasoned that they were simply adding to the sweet deal they already had going for them, but in choosing their will over God’s they forfeited the privilege of doing life with Him.

You and I make the same choice when we refuse to bend our will to His, life without His sweet abiding Presence.

Talk about getting more than you bargained for…

Hugs, Shellie