F is for FOOD

Here are three true stories about food. I hope they please your palate as much as your favourite meal.

It was a cold, yet pleasantly fresh evening. The long winter nights were beginning to disappear to be replaced by simmering sunsets and dreams of light evenings and colourful flowers. Still it was amazingly mild for the time of year and despite the chill in the air, the days had been warm and filled with sunshine more associated with a late spring afternoon. And it was Valentine's Day. That day when one shows their unrequited love for their partner and expects it in return. There were no special bouquets of flowers, no dozen red roses, not even a special heart shaped box of chocolates or a card covered in hearts. No , this night would be all about a special meal in our favourite city restaurant. We arrived in adequate time and were shown to our table, admiring the added decor of pink, silver and red helium-filled balloons that decorated the space above where we walked. There was an atmosphere of love in the air and a plethora of empty seats. We studied the menu, presented on a specially prepared card covered with hearts in the colours of love and made our choice, though it wasn't difficult, as this was a special set menu for everyone in the restaurant, so the only real decision to make was which of the two soups on offer would best warm our insides. The meal was delicious, a mixture of oriental flavours that exploded on the tongue and warmed the heart, exactly like all good Valentine meals should. But not everyone was so happy with the restrictions of a set menu and very little choice.. During the couple of hours that we spent in the company of the delicate and subtle flavours of the Far East, at least half a dozen couples chose to return to the evening air without partaking of the delicate offerings on display. Most of them had sat for at least fifteen minutes, many with drinks already ordered and some even with starters consumed, before they decided to seek sustenance elsewhere. Others who didn't leave, mumbled their displeasure to the waiters through false smiles but decided to stick it out, though their enjoyment was clearly impaired. And through it all, the servants were perfect hosts and perfectly calm.

The other day we watched a cormorant, that majestic of birds, float on the reflections of the sun as we sipped a coffee and saw the world from a different point of view. Several times it disappeared beneath the surface of the shimmering, yet still water, only to re-emerge with another silvery reflection gripped tightly in its beak and very much alive. For a while, there appeared to be a struggle as the sun sparkled on the rapidly moving object in its mouth but then with head held high towards the clear blue overhead, the fish rapidly disappeared and breakfast was over. For a short while there was little commotion and the ripples on the surface once more became a mirror. Until, that is, our graceful friend decided on dessert and so disappeared once more into the darkness below. This time the submersion was longer than expected but eventually, some feet upstream he appeared again, complete with a swishing silvery object. This distraction on the water aroused the curiosity of two seagulls which came to investigate and spotted the fresh food on display. Within seconds their report had brought reinforcements to the scene and before long at least twenty seagulls were diving perilously close to the cormorant for a better view and the hope of a free meal for which they didn't have to work. Several times he plunged below, taking his catch with him, only to find the avian posse still circling and when one of the outlaws almost snatched his well earned prey on a particularly close dive, he took action, tilted his head back and swallowed their hopes in one enormous gulp. Within seconds the potential thieves became disinterested, returned to their resting place and we went back to our coffee.

Recently I bought a large, fresh, white loaf. It was the sort my mum used to buy from the breadman years ago, when he stopped at our house, the type you have to slice often resulting in slices thicker than expected or else wafer thin, but rarely the same width all the way down. I knew it would go down well with our battered fish for tea but the whole thing rested uneasily on my shoulders. After all, in our drive to get our bodies fitter and our minds fresher, we had just spent the previous hour on a long brisk walk in our local park, the same thing we try to do every day and here we were, undoing all the good work, because the temptation was too much to resist. But it was still enjoyable! And anyway, fish and loaves were good enough for a miracle

So what have I learned. Sometimes we reject God's plan for our lives and want it to fit in with our own plans. It's enough to make us walk away immediately but some of us stay for a while and then give up. Either way, we should have known that we lose control of our own lives when we hand them over to Him. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord.' (Isaiah 55:8). But He never stops smiling. Other times we want what He has given to others without realising that God knows exactly what we need and what is best for us. 'And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.' (Philippians 4:19). And how often, just when we think that we have got it all sorted and we're stronger than we've ever been in our faith, satan is waiting just around the corner, more enticing than ever. 'Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.' (Mark 14:38) Feed on these things.