How very old-fashioned and religious some might say – perhaps they are right! And yet, is there something here that is misunderstood, something worth investigating to be salvaged, ‘contextualised’ and re-understood for our times?
Lent used to be about giving up biscuits and chocolates, religiously! There’s something here of an internal struggle that goes on between ‘legalism’ and ‘liberty’ or, if you prefer, ‘Law’ and ‘Grace’.
It was the American Chef Sherry Yard who said, ‘The appetite starts with the eye’. As a famous TV judge and cookbook author, she would know a lot about presentation and the importance of the visual but she could equally have said that appetite starts with the nose, the mind or with the tummy rumbles. However, we all know that whilst appetite is usually taken to mean a desire for food, it can apply to things besides food such as money, sex, possessions and power. Have you noticed that the more a person craves for something the more they crave?! Then what happens is that the thing that is desired for consumption turns to become the predator and consumes the person. Healthy appetites are a good thing but cravings lead to loss of control and a farewell to satisfaction. A person should be well-satisfied with this plate of food but this would not be true for everyone.
There are many types of ‘lockdown’ but in all of them there is no escaping the time of waiting. Even before you are born, your mum and other people were waiting for you! The young can’t wait to grow up and gain their independence. The old find they have to wait for everyone else to do things for them as they progressively lose their independence and sense of value. We usually wait for something that matters to us and in doing so give that ‘something’ meaning. It might be waiting for the bus, the answer to a proposal, the job offer, the operation … or even the exam to start, to stop or to get the result! There’s lots of waiting in every part of life and we can do it with expectation or dread, with patience or impatience and with trust or in fear. How do you wait? What are you waiting for in this phase of your life? Some are waiting for rescue and others to die. We always seem to be waiting – even gardeners wait!
Some people are good with seeds, sowing and gardening – you might hear them described as ‘green fingered’! For others, it is a rare joy when seeds sown begin to resemble any like they look on the packet. There are so many obstacles to success – too hot, too dry, too cold, too wet, too little time, too much time, birds, cats, too many things to mention! Even if we bother to clear the ground, have a seed bed and protective netting, it’s a long time from sowing to reaping with no foregone conclusions. If we couldn’t just pop to the market or a shop, there would be a lot more interest and a lot less procrastination when it comes to the sowing of seeds, leeks or otherwise!
Have you ever noticed how a healthy child learns? They don’t stop to think ‘I must learn’, they just do it through in-built curiosity. And so the child progresses from ignorance to knowledge, which can lead on to wisdom or to folly depending on the lesson learnt! The mature person is never too old to learn but the immature person thinks they already know it all. Moses acquired a lot of knowledge in his Egyptian classrooms from his tutors but God had some bigger lessons to teach him, so he took him into the wilderness. Tired of tending sheep, Moses became curious when he noticed a bush that blazed but did not burn up – that was the beginning of his personal tutorial with God. Any bushes burning around you? Ready to learn something new with God?!
