Ingesting Beauty

Of all the things our culture has wrong or twisted about food, under-appreciating its beauty is high on the list.  Beauty, and experiences thereof, are integrating experiences.  That means they make us feel whole.  They tie us together to ourselves inside.  In the presence of beauty, noticed and appreciated, we experience completeness.  The feeling is deep, even if fleeting.  The thing that we seem to forget is that beauty is meant to be internalized.

By design, beauty causes us to desire something "other," something different from us.  We want to possess it, have it course through us, make us more like itself somehow.  This is the call of Beauty Himself reaching out to us in the everyday.  Of all beauty, in all its invigorating forms, food actually becomes a part of our physical bodies.  Food attracts our eyes and noses right off the bat.  Quickly we put it in our hands and mouths and experience its texture and taste, sound making up the comforting background.  Once swallowed that food actually changes our internal structures.  It makes us stronger, gives us energy and endurance.  It can emotionally lift our spirits.  It can cause people to make noises normally reserved for the bedroom, and if that's not TMI enough for you, eating new food makes waste get pushed out (yes, I'm talking about poop and eating in the same paragraph).

Only food can tantalize all of our senses; not only our bodies but our souls as well if we'll let it.  No wonder there are so many food and feasting analogies throughout Scripture! Calling Jesus "the bread of life" is far from a simple illustration.  While the Word of God surely sustains us, it also binds us together.  It makes sense of our experiences.  It illustrates the cross-over between how our super-natural selves and our every-day lives interact.  The plain and simple of it is, without food, we die.  Without beauty, we become soul-less automatans; without ultimate Beauty, we spend our lives searching for something to make us really, really, whole - and nothing ever completely and permanently does.

We Americans are so removed from our food, so much haste and waste.  So much of our food comes from a box or a bag, eaten en route to yet more hastily spent time.  Food comes to us so easily that we forget to let it nourish us.  We're in such a hurry that we don't often to stop to think if what we're putting into our bodies is actually nourishing at all, much less what parts of us need the nourishment.  Imagine if every time we ate we took the time, both in the preparation and the eating, to let our bodies, souls, and minds be nourished.

So next time you're cooking at home, start a little earlier.  If you can, have a friend over who appreciates good food so you can talk about it.  Plate the food for yourself, throw a little smear of something across the top of your plate to make it fancy.  Take the time to appreciate the colors and smells. EAT SLOWLY.  Every few bites stop and think, "This is what God does for me, provides, nourishes, changes, strengthens--loves."  I guarantee you'll feel better when you're done.

It's a bird!? It's a plane!? It's...Icarus?

Today is the second official day of the summer and for my middle son, it's already a summer filled with freedom. In a short matter of two weeks my four-and-a-half-year-old superstar has learned to ride his two-wheeler, swim, and has started to learn to read. He's pretty convinced he's ready to move out tomorrow because, really, what more could he possibly need to learn to be a success in life? Wow, do I love him. As I watch his skill sets increase, and his sense of invincibility right along with it, I have to laugh at my own Icarus like temptations to push beyond the natural limitations physics give an experience - because I want the high that comes with showing off.

In my adult life, most of my showing off has happened at church. Somebody shows some appreciation for a talent and bam! I'm in that ministry "serving." Or I learn something at school, have some epiphany while studying the Word, and bam! I want to teach the next series, you know, because I'm so wise, and deep, and clever with my words. {Proverbs 18:2 - A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind...snap.} This temptation to flaunt our spiritual feathers seems to be a pretty common experience, to varying degrees, amongst most adult Christians I know. We rush so quickly to share knowledge and display talents, desiring loving smiles and applause. How often do we look for the encouragement to come from our fellow children? Wanting them to appreciate our newfound abilities and affirm that those abilities are, in fact, every bit as cool as we feel when doing them?

How quickly that hunt for praise turns to discouragement and a sense of being deflated. Only a parent, not another kid, cheers every time the child experiences success. Only a parent notices nuanced improvements in form. Only a parent is able to see the inner growth of confidence manifest in the subtle smile on the face they know by heart. Only a parent can truly appreciate the magnificent balance of the inner and outer person growing at the same time.

What a patient Parent we have! When we desire to use a given (as in a gift) skill, to push it, despite our lack of mastery, our Parent still cheers. God reaches out to lift the chin out of the water and remind us to breathe. Grasps our reaching fingers when we've over-estimated the distance we're capable of. Wipes away tears and blood when we lose our balance and get road rash from going too fast. Smiles and explains patiently when we read the wrong word or don't understand what it is we've sounded out. I am amazed and humbled by God's "never-stopping-never-breaking-always-and-forever love" (The Jesus Storybook Bible - read it.). That God would look on me and smile. That I would be encouraged to keep going, even when I have made an absolute mess of things, that I would be fully known and loved in every nook and cranny, is overwhelming.

Lamentations 3:21-23 - This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!

Jesus Storybook Bible