Sour Cream



www.bonappetit.com

The sour cream never had a chance. Never knew what hit it. Innocently it waited in my refrigerator for the next potato- or nacho-based meal, which as a bachelor happened frequently.


This particular day, I staggered into my apartment after running 22 miles while training for my first marathon. Drenched with sweat, vision blurred and legs wobbling, I lurched toward the kitchen, ravenous after burning so much energy. Flinging open the door to the fridge, several tumbleweeds blew out, exposing the unsuspecting tub of protein and fat. Hesitating briefly, a small voice of reason pleaded to not make meal out of a condiment. I shrugged, and attacked the sour cream with primal gusto anyway.

Even though I had changed my physical regimen over several months to prepare for running 26.2 miles, I hadn’t changed my eating habits – burgers, fries, fried chicken, and now apparently, a foray into the fattier condiments. No wonder my body always felt so broken down, and I was zombified by the need for sleep.

Call me crazy, but a food-ish product that contains 10% of my suggested daily allowance of saturated fat in a mere 2 tablespoons couldn’t possibly replace all the carbohydrates, potassium, sodium, vitamins and minerals I burned off in mass quantities. And it certainly could not provide me energy for the next training run. So I lost weight and remained sluggish throughout my training. I bonked during the actual race. My legs turned to mush, and I slogged through the last 2 miles like I was shuffling through waist-deep wet cement.

In the second half of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul writes about bad food. Bad because it was sacrificed to idols, not bad because of its fat content. These days, we do not have to worry about whether our food participated in pagan temple rituals. But we should be concerned about what food we put into our bodies, and how it affects our moods, our energy levels, and our focus because it relates to how well and how actively we can serve God.

When speaking of food, Paul said, “Everything is permissible – but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible – but not everything is constructive” (1 Corinthians 10:23). The items on my bachelor menu were all readily acceptable to eat, but they were not helpful for me. I hope you do not have a sour-cream-as-a-meal habit, but what other food-ish item(s) are on your regular menu that may not be beneficial for you in the long run?

Silence

Microsoft clip art

Remember a serious crush you had when you were in high school? Michelle and I were in typing class together (Flashback: The class taught kids how to use a typewriter correctly. You know, those clackety things people used before computers to create documents?). From what I could tell we hit it off pretty well. Joking and laughing and occasionally stealing glances when the teacher wasn’t looking – needless to say, I was a little distracted during class. Maybe it’s because of those interactions that still, to this day, I don’t know how to keyboard correctly.


Yet, even though I spoke with her, I remained silent about The One Thing That Mattered: how I felt about her. And so, I remained trapped in my own, self-constructed solitary confinement of unspoken hopes and dreams.

I drowned in that same silence when I found out she had started dating some guy. Some other guy. Some guy in our typing class, no less, who probably used his superior typing skills to woo her, unlike me who continued to hunt and peck. Some guy who apparently had no problem talking to her on a deeper level, unlike me who kept silent about such things.

So while they started joking and laughing and stealing glances, I ached inside, left to repeatedly wonder “What if I had said . . . ” Every word I failed to speak when I had the chance pressed down like stacked weights on my chest. Her same actions that used to thrill me, now tore me apart. I resembled David’s remarks in Psalm 39, “When I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased” (Psalm 39:2).

By not saying anything of importance or meaningful to her, in effect, I abandoned her ears to let them roam and find something of substance to listen to; something our fellow typist verbalized.

What is The One Thing That Matters to you that is being left unspoken, and to whom? How could your relationship with God, your friends and your family improve if you said something – anything - about how you honestly feel and what you think? During this time of resolutions to start the new year, make it yours to start tearing down the walls of silence.