A man goes to a diner every day for lunch. He always orders the soup du jour. One day the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The man replies, "It was good, but you could give a little more bread."

So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asks. "It was good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply.

So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give him eight slices of bread. "How was your meal today, sir?" the manager asks. "Good, but you could give a little more bread," comes the reply.

The manager is now obsessed with seeing this customer say that he is satisfied with his meal, so he goes to the bakery and orders a huge loaf of bread. When the man comes in as usual the next day, the waitress and the manager cut the loaf in half, butter the entire length of each half, and lay it out along the counter, right next to his bowl of soup.

The man sits down and devours both his bowl of soup and both halves of the huge loaf of bread. The manager now thinks he will get the answer he is looking for, and when the man comes up to pay for his meal, the manager asks in the usual way: "How was your meal TODAY, sir?"

The man replies: "It was good as usual, but I see you are back to giving only two slices of bread!"

(SOURCE: From a sermon by Paul Decker, SermonCentral.com, "Work It On Out" 6/29/08)