As most of you are aware, I give a lot of thought into my blog posts. And by "thought" I mean "thoughts" and by "thoughts" I mean about half a million of them. In that line of thought, I actually had some foresight about what I wanted my first blog of the 2013 Advent Season would be. I was going to make it holy, and moving, and absolutely perfect. Seriously, it would bring tears to your eyes. Wilfred Owen, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and James Barrie would look down from heaven and smile with a bittersweet smile and they would all be touched. Really. Don't believe me? Well, I guess we'll leave know now that you DON'T believe me. Foolish unbelievers.
Anyways, my point was, this was supposed to be about Advent- and maybe it still will be.
I thought about titling this post, "Cooking Adventures with the Gabbie Lady" but that would be forgetting the importance of the Liturgical New Year. Instead, I decided to be honest. Today is the day that most of my friends are meeting my new beau. I know, it's an old fashioned word, but I aspire to be old fashioned in my language, if not my thoughts. By which I am still referring to my intro paragraph. *mental image of fleeing thoughts running away from a gigantic thought monster that is picking up the smaller thoughts and mangling them in his giant claws as he raises them to his mouth before laughing maniacally and-* ANYWAYS, where was I?
Ah, yes. I was terrified. While I was slicing and dicing tomatoes and avocados for a "Sasha and Me Salad" (directions to be included at a later time) I was imagining all the ways that they wouldn't like him, or he wouldn't like them. And I'll admit my first reaction wasn't to ask for God's intercession (although it would take an act of God to make that group behave) but to promise everyone all the ways I would get even in the days to come if they scared this one into the seminary as well.
I was very focused on my worries, instead of on my salad. Don't worry, I didn't cut myself. I tossed in Parmesan, a small tad of garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I tasted it. It still needed something. Why not some lemon juice? That would keep the avocado from browning and it would give my salad a nice kick. Then I tasted it again. Still not right. So I added more of all the addins including the lemon juice. Tasted it again. Grrrr.... not right. I am not accustomed to messing up on a recipe that I INVENTED. I tossed in some more lemon juice and looked down as I drained the last of the bottle and realized that this was not a normal bottle of lemon juice. This was a bottle of honey and lemon used to put in hot water to cure sore throats. And thus, I was very annoyed.
That's when I decided that my focus was not in the right place. In fact, I was pretty sure I was approaching the whole situation wrong. And that is why I am writing about Advent. This is a time of reflection, of forgiveness, of spiritual growth and of patience. All of these should be most reflected upon oneself, at least in my case.
And so I say rather sheepishly, Lord, thank you for allowing me to ruin my salad with honey to remind me that You are my rock and that everything else will fade into obscurity. My salad wouldn't last a week no matter what but I'm sure the story will live on, if I were brave enough to tell it tonight. Relationships are important but no relationship is more important than the one I have with You. All will be well as long as I'm with You. So thank You, for reminding me of what's most important, in this first week of Advent.
-The Gabbie Lady
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