My cook has shown me how I ought to live my own life!

"This is it! My cook has shown me how I ought to live my own life!" (Chuang Tzu)

I love to cook and cooking helps me to love. In the art of cooking I am able to discover my spiritual center and centered spiritually I am able to live into that which I profess.

For many the thought of designing, prepping, cooking, and plating a meal causes an angst that is insurmountable. Just the opposite occurs for me. As I enter into the process of physically feeding others I find myself re-discovering a “peace that passes understanding.” I am able to find calm in the midst of the world’s cacophony.

Renewed, refreshed, because of time spent cooking I can participate in renewing and refreshing the world.

Cutting Up An Ox

Prince Wen Hui's cook
Was cutting up an ox.
Out went a hand,
Down went a shoulder,
He planted a foot,
He pressed with a knee
The ox fell apart
With a whisper,
The bright cleaver murmured
Like a gentle wind.
Rhythm! Timing!
Like a sacred dance,
Like "The Mulberry Grove"
Like ancient harmonies!

"Good work!" the Prince exclaimed,
"Your method is faultless!"
"Method?" said the cook
Laying aside his cleaver,
"What I follow is Tao
Beyond all methods!

"When I first began
To cut up oxen
I would see before me
The whole ox
All in one mass.
"After three years
I no longer saw this mass.
I saw the distinctions.

"But now, I see nothing
With the eye. My whole being
Apprehends.
My senses are idle. The spirit
Free to work without plan
Follows its own instinct
Guided by natural line,
By the secret opening,
The hidden space,
My cleaver finds its own way.
I cut through no joint, chop no bone.

"A great cook needs a new chopper
Once a year - he cuts.
A poor cook needs a new one
Every month - he hacks!

"I have used this same cleaver
Nineteen years.
It has cut up
A thousand oxen.
Its edge is as keen
As if newly sharpened.
"There are spaces in the joints;
The blade is thin and keen:
When this thinness
Finds that space
There is all the room you need!
It goes like a breeze!
Hence I have this cleaver
Nineteen years
As if newly sharpened!


"True, there are sometimes
Tough joints. I feel them coming,
I slow down, I watch closely,
Hold back, barely move the blade,
And whump! the part falls away
Landing like a clod of earth.

"Then I withdraw the blade,
I stand still
And let the joy of the work
Sink in.
I clean the blade
And put it away."


Prince Wen Hui said,
"This is it! My cook has shown me
How I ought to live
My own life!"

-Chuang Tzu

In New York

Pondering the wrinkles of creation.

Think about this.

Think about this for a second:

God (being God), having Infinite Knowledge,

Not only knew your every thought and action

Your life would ever experience

(Even before you were born)

But He also, being the Dvine Creator,

Has etched every moment of your existence

With His own hand

With the precision and care

No artist ever could.

Think about this for a moment:

I have never heard a bird or the sun

Ever say to God,

I am sorry.

from Rewards For Clear Thinking a poem by Hafiz

Find a Better Job

Now

That

All your worry

Has proved such an

Unlucrative

Business,

Why

Not

Find a better

Job.

-Hafiz

 I know of a better job. It is to be employed full-time in the moments of life we experience as the now. It is to be present in that sacred second when a Monarch butterfly lights on a chive blossom or to be able to wonder at the weavings of a spider and feel God's Presence. 

In that job I am both an intern and vested for life.

Pray-Read the Bible-Worship

June kicks off another season of triathlon racing. That is, contests of varying distances that include swimming, biking, and running done one right after the other. The “Sprint” distance is a swim of ½ mile, a bike ride of 13 miles, and a run of 3.1 miles. The “Olympic” distance is twice the sprint distance. Many have heard of the “Ironman” made famous in Hawaii it is a stroll in the park with a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run.

Over the last three years I have completed and will again participate this year in Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. It’s really fun that DeWitt has its own Tri. This year it will be August 1st.

It seems obvious that in order to complete a triathlon one needs to prepare for it. Workouts that balance all three areas are better on the body and more helpful for completing the race than focusing on just one thing.

I would suggest that a spiritual journey is a lot like a triathlon. To fully engage in the journey, it is important to balance three things: Prayer, Bible, and Worship. Those three activities, when practiced, will strengthen our spiritual lives so that we can accomplish what the Apostle Paul calls “the race marked before us” (Hebrews 12). Some might add a fourth area and that is service, however, I am a firm believer that service is really an expression of prayer, Bible, and worship in action.

Paul enjoyed using the phrase “therefore” in his writings. Therefore, if what I am saying is valid, we should be training by praying, reading the Bible, and worshipping so that we can persevere in the race marked before us. From individual to individual the training plan might look different but the end result is the same: an experience of God that is eternal.

I challenge you to step up your training this summer. Increase your prayer moments, whether they are asking or listening, spoken or silent prayers; build on your core Bible knowledge, individually or in a small group; commit to regular worship attendance this summer.

Persevere in the race.

Comfort in Creation

I have cut the chives three times already this year, the potatoes are in, I’ve planted kohlrabi, broccoli, red and white onions, two kinds of tomatoes (yes, tomatoes), and I expect to have a salad from the lettuce garden nestled in the cold frame within the next few days.

Nothing gives me greater hope for the future than working the soil and watching a plant grow. I imagine it has something to do with a family gene that is manifested by dirt under half chewed fingernails.

I grew up on a farm and as soon as I could I tagged around with my grandfather planting potatoes in one field, popcorn in another, sweet corn in yet another, and watermelon & muskmelon on a sandy ridge too covered with sandburs to grow anything else. Of course, there was also the “regular” garden with all of its varied vegetables, bordered by red raspberry bushes and apple trees.

Both dad and granddad worried about the weather and crops and taxes and lack of income and just about everything else, thus the chewed fingernails. But, as soon as there was dirt under the tips of their fingers the world seemed right. When there was food for the family there was comfort for the soul.

I know there is plenty to worry about these days and my fingernails are embarrassingly short, but there is dirt under my fingertips and I have hope. It’s funny the way God works.

O Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth.

There Is Life In The Now

It is so easy to get caught up in the hurt of "should have been" and the fear of "what if." They are not, however, what God desires for us. I believe that God yearns for us to experience the strength of the moment, the now.

Both the past and the future have too often become reflections of death rather than life. God, through the voices of scripture says "choose life."


"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…"

from Deuteronomy 30:11-20


"I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly God was speaking. "My name is 'I Am.'" I waited... God continued.

"When you endeavor to dwell in the past, lamenting over all of its mistakes, missteps and regrets, it is hard to feel empowered and encouraged. I am not there. My name is not 'I was.'

"When you exhaust yourself by worry about the future, with all of its unknowns, problems and fears, it is hard to feel at ease and calm. I am not there. My name is not 'I will be.'

"When you live in this very moment, embracing all that is and breathing in the newness of life, it is not hard at all because I am here. My name is 'I Am.'"

Adapted from Helen Mellicost as quoted in One Hundred Graces