My Grandmother was an amazing cook! She was an ‘organic’ chief before anyone knew what that was. Everything she made came out of her garden. I have vivid memories of picking and canning and freezing everything.
The aromas and flavors that filled her kitchen still flood my mind. (I hope you have a similar memory.)
Grandma Lottie knew everyone’s favorite foods. When you went for a visit she made sure to prepare all of them. She taught me that food and family are linked together. According to Pastor Chris Seay “more lives are changed around good food, good drink and good conversation” than at any other place, a dinner table more than a board table.
My Dad grew up in the midst of this fine southern cooking and hospitality. However, watching my Dad eat was one of the most confusing things I have ever done. He would fill his plate with everything it could possibly hold, then he would proceed to mix it all together.
Yeah, I know! It was disgusting. He would giggle at your reaction and then make some stupid comment about how it was all going to combined in your stomach anyway. He loved all the different flavors being intermingled together into one … something or other.
I remember asking Grandmother about this annoying habit of his. She said that it brought her great joy to see Dad enjoying himself. My Grandmother went to great lengths to prepare all these different foods with very distinct flavors and my Dad loved mixing them together. I have pondered this strange enterplay between them several times. (I think I’ll go to Chipotle for lunch)
It dawned on me the other day, that the Father took great pleasure in creating everything so uniquely, so differently, and the Son took the same pleasure in uniting them together.
My Granddaughter loses her mind if two food items on her plate even touch one another. Heaven forbid! (Reminds me of the plates that we all ate off of in grade school.) She makes me think of most of the “church” today. Heaven forbid… that we mix anything that looks Methodist with something Baptist or something that looks catholic with something evangelical.
Jesus encouraged us to be united, but it appears that we go to great extremes to keep everything separated into it’s own little space on our plate.
The “church” at it’s best is a plate full of food all mixed together….
(Chipotle here I come)
