Once there were grandparents that had more money than could be counted by any grandchild. These grandparents announced that tonight’s dinner would be on them at McDonald’s and that everyone could pick whatever they wanted from the menu. This promise seemed almost unreachable by some of the grandchildren. How could they pay for so many people without knowing what they would even order?

They wondered among themselves, ‘What if everyone ordered two or three meals? How could they afford that imagined posibility of their promise?’

They simply couldn’t understand how grandma and grandpa could make a promise to pay for everyone’s free choices. Indeed, they may not have enough saved to make the payment on everyone picking multiple meals. Maybe their guarantee didn’t include ‘whatever’ in the full imagination; they just wanted to create excitement.

They thought, ‘Surely, Grandma and Grandpa would stop us if we ordered so much food that they couldn’t pay.’

One of the grandchildren wondered out loud, ‘If they have promised whatever we want, then maybe they have purchased all of the McDonalds and have already paid for everything so they can’t be overwhelmed by our dinner purchase?’

To which another grandchild responded, ‘I bet they own McDonald’s. Maybe we are going to be forced to eat everything in the store.’

A third grandchild spoke as if he knew the correct answer, ‘They already know what we will order, so they only need to have a certain amount of money available to make their promise.’

Finally, the dinner arrived where Grandma and Grandpa let everyone order whatever they wanted. One wise grandchild looked over at them to see if they were stressed by the amount ordered. However, Grandma and Grandpa were all smiles and confidence.

After the orders were completed, everyone sat down to eat, and the wise grandchild leaned over to his Grandparents, saying, ‘Thanks for dinner.’ The child then asked with a quizzical look, ‘But if you promised whatever,’ holding his fingers in the air to make quotes, ‘indeed you had to buy more food than what we have here because I can imagine a larger amount than what we have ordered.’

Grandpa responded, ‘Child, it is not your imagination that eats. It is your choices which require the purchase.’

Grandma then leaned over and shared, ‘We understood the possibilities, and we were prepared for any imaginable scenario. You did not need to worry as we were not worried about our ability to provide on our promise.’

At that moment, one of the middle grandchildren said, ‘But you looked surprised when I ordered three chicken sandwiches and a quarter pounder? It looked like you weren’t ready for how much I ordered.’

Grandpa responded with intent, ‘I was surprised! I didn’t think you could eat that much food. But that surprise was about your free choice, not about my ability to pay for your choice. I understood my promise, and I would never be worried about my ability to honor it.’

On that night, the children learned that their Grandparents were wise enough to make promises they could keep, loving enough to wait for our choices, meek enough to not control beyond what they had promised, and powerful enough to keep those promises even when some children do the unexpected.

• general