Food for thought

Last night I was re-reading some things I’d written last year and came across some thoughts that I found interesting.  And because it is, in a sense, about food I thought it appropriate to share it this Thanksgiving week, as we will all be out shopping for our perfect holiday meal.

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Here I am again.  Lamenting the fact that people are people and that people are imperfect sinners—regardless of how good they may seem to be.  And because my mind is once again unable to focus and think, I am writing with the hope that the scattered messages in my brain will find their way out through my fingertips.  

There is no good reason for this to bother me, not even a little.  It is quite clear to me that it shouldn’t matter what people think, for to care is pride and with such pride comes hypocrisy based change, whether I like it or not, and that cannot be the motivation behind my choices and actions.   So, understanding this fine point, why is it that it bothers me to know that “people talk”?

And why is it that people judge others based on their own standards?  

Standards.   I just watched a very intriguing show on food network that had something to do with standards and how entirely ridiculous they can be.  Four highly respected chefs were given a challenge to prepare a four course meal from what we consider “garbage” for a hundred guests.  To find the garbage they would use to prepare this meal, they traveled from store to store, market to market, and farm to farm to find meat, produce, and other products that were destined for the trash, as consumers like us refused to take and use them.   What these chefs found in the city of New York was astonishing.  Tons of food was thrown out daily by restaurants, stores, and markets, and up to 50% of the produce grown by local farmers was tossed into the compost pile.  Why?  Because these products didn’t measure up to the standards that we Americans are accustomed to.  A single blemish or spot, inconsistency in size, shape, or color and that fruit or vegetable is not considered acceptable and therefore not chosen.  

It seems reasonable enough.  We judge the quality of what’s before us by what we see, first and foremost. And we don’t want to invest in anything that’s sub-par.  I don’t know anyone who would choose a bruised apple over a perfect, spotless, shiny apple.  We quickly look through bins of produce, judge what looks “good”, pick what we deem “the best”, and cast aside the rest. 

How often are we guilty of doing this in life also?  How often do we do this with people that we come across at work, at school, and at church?

I cannot fault a person for being a person, for acting like a person.  So what I will focus on is the person who is no longer merely a person, but born again as a new creation, filled with the Spirit of God.  How often do you suppose a person of God does this in life?

How often do we go to church and view our fellow members as we might products at a grocery store?  We have standards after all…we should have standards shouldn’t we?                    

...So, we look about us, at those in front, those behind, those beside us, we see the tomatoes, the potatoes, the squash, the peaches…many of them look perfect and beautiful.  But some of them have apparent spots, maybe some bruises, perhaps the skin that we see isn’t the exact shade of the color we would expect to see in that particular fruit, or maybe the piece of meat that we see in pew number three looks a bit bony and lean for our taste.  So, naturally we avert our attention from those with obvious imperfections.   Furthermore, we can’t see how produce like that can, or should, even be used!    We turn our nose up to it and never expect much from it.   

We may see a prepackaged product, like cheese, in pew eight with an expiration date that is dated yesterday, and we think, ‘gee, that should have been used  already’, and we fear that it has gone bad and thus ignore the cheese, picking its neighbor in pew nine that still has potential.  We don’t realize that the cheese will still be good and that the expiration date is only another man’s standard.

When those four renowned chefs, who regularly toss expensive cuts of meat into the garbage because they’re not cut or cooked PERFECTLY and thus not fit to serve by their own standards, had no other choice but to use what they normally would consider “garbage”, they were astounded by the quality they found.  As they picked bruised peaches up off the ground from under the tree instead of the beautiful ones yet on the branches, they tasted flesh that seemed sweeter than normal.  Tomatoes with unsightly cracks were deemed juicier than most and purposed for a delicious sauce.  The meat that couldn’t be sold because it was too bony was acclaimed for its rich depth of flavor and tenderness.

As I watched this show, I wondered, ‘what are we missing out on by the standards we have set, by the standards that drive our judgments, our choices, and ultimately what we add to our life?’ 

In relationships, what are we missing out on by the standards we have set and judge others by?  Are we avoiding the tenderest of souls because to our eye they lack the meat we expect to see in a good cut of beef?  Do we miss out on the sweetest hearts because their bodies--or how they dress them-- do not meet our standards?  because they don’t look like the fruit that we expect to see sitting in a church pew...have we missed out on knowing a soul so filled with God’s grace and mercy that they are juicy with God’s love? and if we only took the chance to enjoy it, that love and grace might just pour over us.

 

I am speaking in generalities here, not of myself.  There is no way for me to say whether I am a tender piece of meat, a juicy tomato, or a sweet peach…only God can judge my heart and know me; to my own inward facing eye, I am undesirable.  My flaws are apparent and even I don’t want me much of the time! but I know that God does and that He intends to use me, and it never ceases to amaze me that He could find a purpose for someone like me! 

What I am saying here is that by judging others by our standards, by what we expect to see or think is best, or fitting for a purpose, we can easily miss out on those whom God intends to use for a sweet and flavorful purpose.  And it’s truly our loss!  God created each of us; He has a purpose for each of us.  Certainly some of us are His “show pieces”, meant to set a quiet example to the rest, a perfect garnish; but many of us are bruised and imperfect, maybe left a little long on the vine or exposed to the sun’s harsh rays, slightly discolored, or tough, but will be peeled and used to create a rich and satisfying sauce or a delicious dessert!    

Sadly, the ones we view as “perfect” are often those who have the highest of standards by which they judge, the ones who seem eager to serve only the best, never wanting to be known for anything “less than perfect”…

…but they seem to forget that they are not the Chefs in this story. None of us are.  We are all purchased items, to be used by the greatest Chef of all--the only Chef who can make something beautiful out of nothing.