Jean Coleman's Blog - Posts Tagged "food"
THE CHRISTMAS VISITOR
I looked at the thermometer and saw that it read 102 degrees. The heat was oppressive and it wasn't even noon. I wondered how I could make it through the day. But even worse than the heat was the homesickness. Most of the time I was content to live in Australia, but as the Christmas season approached I longed to be back in America. My mind just couldn't adjust to having Christmas come in the middle of summer vacation.
I actually dreaded the thought of Christmas. Perhaps what I missed the most was the excitement of gathering together with family and friends on Christmas day for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It just didn't seem like Christmas day with only our own little family around the table. We really needed someone to celebrate with us, but who could it be? All our friends were away for the holidays. Surely there was someone in Melbourne who would like to join our family for Christmas.
Suddenly an idea was birthed within me. We could adopt an elderly pensioner for the day, perhaps an old man who had no family. He could be our special Christmas guest. I could sense the excitement rising up within me and it didn't take long to make a phone call to Social Services with my request. They were more than delighted to arrange for someone to spend Christmas in our home.
Christmas then took on a whole new atmosphere. We had taken our eyes off of ourselves and focused them on another. Eagerly we purchased special gifts for our Christmas visitor and even baked him a beautiful cake with fluffy white icing. Christmas had become a time to give instead of receive.
The children spent Christmas afternoon waiting for our anticipated visitor to arrive. I heard their shout, "He's here! He's here!" And what a marvelous old man he was! Sid was slightly stooped and walked with a cane. A bowler hat sat jauntily upon his white hair. We quickly seated him in our best chair and a footstool was brought so he could rest his bad leg. Tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks as he was presented with his Christmas gifts. And how Sid enjoyed the traditional American Christmas dinner that had been prepared.
"Did you know that today is my birthday?" he asked as he passed his plate for seconds. "I was born on Christmas day many years ago, but it's been a long time since I had a real birthday celebration like this."
When I heard his words, I began silently to pray. "Dear God, please let there be some birthday candles in the drawer in the kitchen."
Five minutes later I was carrying a cake ablaze with candles into the dining room. We lifted our voices and sang the familiar chorus, "Happy birthday, dear Sid, happy birthday to you."
We learned the true meaning of Christmas on that hot summer day in Australia when we opened our home and our hearts to a stranger. Did we entertain an angel unaware? Or perhaps our visitor was someone even more special who had come to spend HIS birthday with us. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matthew 26:40).
I actually dreaded the thought of Christmas. Perhaps what I missed the most was the excitement of gathering together with family and friends on Christmas day for a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It just didn't seem like Christmas day with only our own little family around the table. We really needed someone to celebrate with us, but who could it be? All our friends were away for the holidays. Surely there was someone in Melbourne who would like to join our family for Christmas.
Suddenly an idea was birthed within me. We could adopt an elderly pensioner for the day, perhaps an old man who had no family. He could be our special Christmas guest. I could sense the excitement rising up within me and it didn't take long to make a phone call to Social Services with my request. They were more than delighted to arrange for someone to spend Christmas in our home.
Christmas then took on a whole new atmosphere. We had taken our eyes off of ourselves and focused them on another. Eagerly we purchased special gifts for our Christmas visitor and even baked him a beautiful cake with fluffy white icing. Christmas had become a time to give instead of receive.
The children spent Christmas afternoon waiting for our anticipated visitor to arrive. I heard their shout, "He's here! He's here!" And what a marvelous old man he was! Sid was slightly stooped and walked with a cane. A bowler hat sat jauntily upon his white hair. We quickly seated him in our best chair and a footstool was brought so he could rest his bad leg. Tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks as he was presented with his Christmas gifts. And how Sid enjoyed the traditional American Christmas dinner that had been prepared.
"Did you know that today is my birthday?" he asked as he passed his plate for seconds. "I was born on Christmas day many years ago, but it's been a long time since I had a real birthday celebration like this."
When I heard his words, I began silently to pray. "Dear God, please let there be some birthday candles in the drawer in the kitchen."
Five minutes later I was carrying a cake ablaze with candles into the dining room. We lifted our voices and sang the familiar chorus, "Happy birthday, dear Sid, happy birthday to you."
We learned the true meaning of Christmas on that hot summer day in Australia when we opened our home and our hearts to a stranger. Did we entertain an angel unaware? Or perhaps our visitor was someone even more special who had come to spend HIS birthday with us. "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me" (Matthew 26:40).
THE PLASTIC COFFIN
"What's in this little plastic dish I just discovered in the back of the refrigerator?" my husband asked handing me a small container.
Lifting the lid, I carefully studied the contents which were sea green in color with a covering of fuzzy moss. I had never seen anything like it before, nor smelled anything like it either. "Maybe some green beans?" I ventured.
Then my husband pulled out a second container. "How about this one?" he inquired as he showed me another mystery food item. This one was a brownish-yellow and covered with greasy slime. It looked like it could it have been a piece of meat at one time.
"Were you saving these for a special surprise dinner?" he asked sarcastically. "Or perhaps you were growing some homemade penicillin?"
Stooping down I peered into the refrigerator and spotted several more "plastic coffins" toward the back of the bottom shelf. "I've been meaning to throw out these things," I explained, "but I just never got around to doing it." I glanced down at my watch and remarked, "But I certainly don't have time now. I'll get rid of all these old leftovers tomorrow." And with those words, I closed the refrigerator door, allowing the "deceased" to spend more time in the morgue.
How long had I been storing that rotting food in the fridge? Probably for weeks. It should never have been saved in the first place--a little drib of this and a drab of that. It was no surprise to me that all those little coffins were hiding in there, but it was just too much trouble to scrape them out and put them in the dishwasher. And so they had just remained where they were filled with putrid and decomposing food.
Occasionally I had even opened the lids of the little containers and taken a look inside, but then I had quickly closed them up and put them back in the refrigerator to rot a little more. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet I had to admit that it was embarrassing to have someone else discover the decaying matter I was saving. It was one thing if I knew, but quite another to have my husband uncover my secret coffins.
What do you have stored away in the dark corners of your mind? Have you allowed bitterness, resentment, prejudice and hate to remain when they should have been tossed out long ago? It's amazing what a short time it takes for a little stored up rejection to turn into some really repulsive resentment and bitterness. Even a small amount of prejudice shoved into the dark recesses of your mind as a child can be brought forth later as hate-covered anger and violence.
As Christians, all of us are well aware of the need to examine ourselves and remove any corrupt thing that might remain within us. But sometimes it's easier to just let the hidden sins stay in their coffins stored in the back corners of our minds. We often prefer not to even look at the unpleasant leftovers from our past, so we simply close the door and hope that no one will ever notice what still remains rotting inside of us.
Put out the garbage! Remove the coffins! It's time to clean out the refrigerator of our hearts!
Lifting the lid, I carefully studied the contents which were sea green in color with a covering of fuzzy moss. I had never seen anything like it before, nor smelled anything like it either. "Maybe some green beans?" I ventured.
Then my husband pulled out a second container. "How about this one?" he inquired as he showed me another mystery food item. This one was a brownish-yellow and covered with greasy slime. It looked like it could it have been a piece of meat at one time.
"Were you saving these for a special surprise dinner?" he asked sarcastically. "Or perhaps you were growing some homemade penicillin?"
Stooping down I peered into the refrigerator and spotted several more "plastic coffins" toward the back of the bottom shelf. "I've been meaning to throw out these things," I explained, "but I just never got around to doing it." I glanced down at my watch and remarked, "But I certainly don't have time now. I'll get rid of all these old leftovers tomorrow." And with those words, I closed the refrigerator door, allowing the "deceased" to spend more time in the morgue.
How long had I been storing that rotting food in the fridge? Probably for weeks. It should never have been saved in the first place--a little drib of this and a drab of that. It was no surprise to me that all those little coffins were hiding in there, but it was just too much trouble to scrape them out and put them in the dishwasher. And so they had just remained where they were filled with putrid and decomposing food.
Occasionally I had even opened the lids of the little containers and taken a look inside, but then I had quickly closed them up and put them back in the refrigerator to rot a little more. Out of sight, out of mind. Yet I had to admit that it was embarrassing to have someone else discover the decaying matter I was saving. It was one thing if I knew, but quite another to have my husband uncover my secret coffins.
What do you have stored away in the dark corners of your mind? Have you allowed bitterness, resentment, prejudice and hate to remain when they should have been tossed out long ago? It's amazing what a short time it takes for a little stored up rejection to turn into some really repulsive resentment and bitterness. Even a small amount of prejudice shoved into the dark recesses of your mind as a child can be brought forth later as hate-covered anger and violence.
As Christians, all of us are well aware of the need to examine ourselves and remove any corrupt thing that might remain within us. But sometimes it's easier to just let the hidden sins stay in their coffins stored in the back corners of our minds. We often prefer not to even look at the unpleasant leftovers from our past, so we simply close the door and hope that no one will ever notice what still remains rotting inside of us.
Put out the garbage! Remove the coffins! It's time to clean out the refrigerator of our hearts!
