For a bulk of my 20s I went meatless. Not necessarily “vegetarian” as I still enjoyed birds of the air and fish of the sea. I differentiated between species created on the 5th day vs. species made on the 6th. My objections were sheer preference. I just didn’t enjoy meat. I found it quite simple to navigate around it, save for the occasional church potluck, so I always went for the bird.
During that same period of my life I was introduced to Patty B by way of mutual vocation. She avidly avoided the meat, even in a “who-double-dipped-from-the-taco-meat-into-the-sour-cream?” kind of way. But she didn’t simply hold a distaste for the product, she abhorred the process.
Hailing from the cornfields of Iowa, at some point in her life Patty came to feel strongly that the food being produced might better serve us by feeding humans rather than cows, but our over-meated society, with its operations based on supply-and-demand, tilted the scales otherwise. Patty’s plate preferences were about much more than cut and doneness… they were about how our decisions affected the greater good.
In my many years sharing ministry time with Patty, I learned so much. She practiced a kind of patience that I could only dream of when it came to jr. high kids. But she could savor the humor that came with it and toss in a bit of sarcasm or irony when needed. And she was influential in my transition to understanding that salvation, while a personal decision, is also a corporate gift. All of creation matters to God.
Patty signed her emails “peace, Patty B.” And not just in a jiving-hippie kind of way, though the girl does play the oboe, has her nose pierced and regularly practices yoga, so she holds that license. But when I received an email from Patty signed “peace”, I was reminded of something of the inner and the outer. Shalom… making things right. I was reminded that peace was a concept of personal and corporate responsibility, and by knowing Patty, I was exposed to what that might look like.
From her participation with the abstinence-ed work to talking about faith and life and what it means to follow God, Patty lives out loud the idea that there’s something beyond the finished product. How we arrive matters. If you were to cross-stitch Patty B into a wall hanging, perhaps it would say, “joy is the journey and not a destination.”
Category: Uncategorized (Page 116 of 188)
So I’d like to make good on my aspirations to add a variety of focus to this “space”. I’ve got one post written, only 51 more to go. Actually, I don’t have 51 more leads, so we’ll see how this progresses.
Over time my conviction has grown that what and how we eat serves as a reflection of our life at large. A majority of people in our culture eat “fast food” in the car and on the run. Family dinner is on the decline. And I believe it to have deep implications for our society and our social nature in general. We eat food devoid of nutrition as a filler in the same way we lead lives devoid of relationships that offer sustenance, and instead fill up on whatever snacks we find along the way, be it destructive habits, addictions (including workaholism, perfectionism and other socially acceptable -isms) and patterns of behavior. I’m not saying that people that eat healthier are automatically happier; I am say that how we come to the table and what we find there waiting might be a deeper reflection into our hearts.
So in an effort to illustrate this conviction, I’d like to draw upon some of the food-inspired life lessons that have emerged in my meager 30 years of existence. Realistically, the grand majority of them came about in the the last decade.
Not only do my stories focus on the food, but the people that I associate with them. Because it’s not about the consumption of food-like matter, but rather the sharing of a meal. Some of the people may opt to remain a bit more obscure (and if you figure out who they are, then lucky you for knowing them as well! Call them for a dinner date!). Maybe that’s what I’ll call the series… Dinner Date. Because everything in my life needs a good title or theme, and I have yet to be able to come up with an acceptable slogan for this series.
So, that’s the hope. Stay tuned.
After hubby and I returned from a mini-date night (quick movie, we saw Little Fockers. I thoroughly enjoyed.), we settled into the basement and the sitter had left Undercover Boss on the tv. I’ve never watched before, but this one was about the Norwegian Cruise Line CEO doing a lot of shipwork. I’ve been on my share of cruises (though NCL effectively, but not efficiently, bumped me out of my recent free one), a few with NCL, so I made a point to not change the channel. It was a big night for NCL – they also left me a voicemail and sent me an email.
It was the second-best choice of the night. The first best was to actually GO to the movies.
I loved the show. No doubt, the CEO had effective pre-coaching on how to spin this for good publicity, as it ended him praising his staff and crew teams and throwing a bit of money into making their time at sea less miserable as they spend it away from their families doing back-breaking labor. So I’m not convinced I was catching sheer, honest emotion, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Hands down the best part for me was watching him lift pieces of ice that weighed hundreds of pounds to put together an ice rink on the top of a ship sailing in the middle of the Caribbean. Because when I go to places with lots of sun and sand and fruity drinks, I think, “but if I were just on the ice….”. And after such efforts, no one came to skate. Crazy that.
CEO realized that the efforts were futile and he experienced what the team felt on a regular basis. He was no different than the gal next to him as they both felt the exhaustion of wasted efforts, the result of a decision made by someone who has clearly never worked the job.
I love what the show brings. It reminds us that every decision we make does have effects on others – how they spend their time and energy and how they feel valued. It also serves our memories good to realize that none of us are all that different. If it hurts my back, it hurts yours.
I have high hopes that CEO man returns to the office with a respect for his employees that matches or doubles that which he gives to his Suit & Tie Types that filter through his office on a regular basis.