I am sitting at the dining room table. It is enormous from a child’s-eye perspective. My feet dangle off the edge of the chair as I try not to slip from the pile of cushions holding me up to my place. It is dinner time at Grandmomma’s house. The grown-ups are talking and laughing and passing the rolls as Granddaddy plates the meat. I’m busy playing with my napkin ring while the dishes of deliciousness are handed one to another around the table.
Mashed potatoes? Yes, please.
Gravy? Yes, please.
Butter beans and corn? Yes, please.
Apple sauce? Yum! Please.
But then I spy a certain dish making its way toward me. I start to squirm because I don’t like it. I do not actually know what it is, but I am sure I do not want it. I want to let the strangeness pass me by – to no avail. My uncle tries to serve me. My aunt tries to bribe me. My mother tries to reason with me. I am suspicious and I am stubborn. And then Grandmomma steps in with a spoon…
You may have a no-thank-you helping. This is Grandmomma speak for you WILL eat this right now and it is going to be OK.
Yes, please. This is child speak for I don’t want to but I know I have to and I really want dessert.
It doesn’t look good. It is colorful (orange) and strange (sticky) and weird (sticks and circle shapes). Grandmomma puts a singular serving spoon of it on my plate. The understanding regarding this measurement is simple: eat all of this and you will get to have some peach cobbler with ice cream. I take a deep breath and stick in a tiny piece of orangeness. It’s gone before I have even tasted it. I take another bite, this time with my eyes open and my senses turned on. This dish really isn’t as bad as it looks. By the time I finish my serving, I have been converted. No one will ever have to convince me that this stuff is good again. Candied yams are my new favorite!
So what is the moral of this story from my childhood?
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalm 34:8
We Christians are so good at being picky. We choose one flavor, one version, one part over another. There seems to be no room for another dish at our table. God never changes ( James 1:17 ) but He is infinite! We can never come to the end of things to discover, learn, see, feel experience in Him and of Him. The Bible tells us to be wise and childlike. Don’t heap a serving of poison on your plate. Equally, don’t let a new thing (or an old one you’ve never heard of) pass by. You may well discover something wonderful!
We celebrate Thanksgiving as a family here in Scotland, and I make my Grandmomma’s candied yams every year. Some let the dish pass them by. Others would empty the bowl given half the chance! I’m happy to share what I know to be good, and bring it to the table with a serving spoon in hand.
Grandmomma's Candied Yams
As usual, that is really good. I wish you’d write more often, but I can only imagine that your schedule is already over-full.
I like the statement, “There seems to be no room for another dish at our table.” We’d never eat the same meal for the rest of our lives, but we do that with our religious habits. Of course, having read my book, you know how I feel about this.
I didn’t see the transition coming from trying new foods to being ready for the new things of God. I like it. Well done. I may have to use it in a sermon illustration.
Blessings,
Jim
Thank you for the encouragement – it seems to take a monumental effort these days to finish the thoughts I start on paper! God has so much to show us if we’ll just step out…
Blessings, Beth
I seem to remember a similar meal when scallops panned in butter was the offending food. After turned up nose and pleading look, the first scallop lead to a second and a third an so on until there were no scallops to be had anywhere on the table!
Yum, candied yams!!! Great tie in!
Thanks! you must have some Southern in your family line.
I really liked this post. It gave me something to think about. I have always liked that Bible verse, but this challenged me to consider that certain situations that seem unappealing…The Lord has promised to be with me in them too. I need to remember that God is good and His presence with me no matter where I am will ensure that I will find good in any situation where He leads me.
This Southern girl takes her yams/sweet potatoes and makes a really good pie!
Theresa