May 16th, 2020: God's Recipe for Our Life
Most of us would enjoy a good meal with good friends. Some of us like to extend our hospitality by inviting family or friends over and cook for them. Others would prefer just to go out, relax, and have a nice time. Food has become an important hospitable aspect of many cultures. In our own culture, sometimes we ask this question when we see one another: "Have you eaten today?". It is not "How are you?" which can be an ambivalent question to ask.
Cooking is an art form. For me, it is a creative process of how one can marinate various ingredients into one recipe. It is amazing to learn how simple vegetables, meat, and spices ...can be weaved into an incredible dish. Good cooking is not done half-heartedly. It demands precision in measurements and time. It also calla for the imagination of the chef.
God is working with us in the world is similar to "cooking" as well. God is continuing to create via our creativity and talents. He has a "recipe" for our life. We have to engage in our imagination (or vision) to carry that out. We have to pay attention to what God is saying because there is a timing for everything we do in life. If we don't observe that carefully, we might end up missing the boat. I have met unassuming men and women who have unbelievable contributions to society by simply considering God's given talents as their gifts to serve others and having a vision about life that is greater than they are.
Almost everything in life starts with the gift of hospitality. It is a spiritual gift according to the Bible. It is the kind of gift that makes others feel welcome and acknowledged. It is a gift that meets our human relational needs. It is an invitation to living life together.
"Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness." (Romans 12: 6-8)
