On Life’s Menu

Boring. Hopeless. Useless. Without purpose. Why do so many of us end up with these adjectives on the plate which is our day-to-day existence? I’m sure nobody would say they “ordered” these from life’s menu. This is simply what they were served.

So here’s the deal: this is exactly what we get served when we sit down and wait to see what the Life Waiter brings our way. Why? Because life is a buffet, friends! We either sit and get, well, basically nothing or we get up and go find something more interesting and potentially satisfying.

So why do some of us just sit – day after long and boring day – in the same job, the same home, the same thought-life? Maybe because that’s all we’ve ever known… that’s how Mom and Dad lived, and Pops and Granny before them. Maybe it is because we are so scared to try new things. That breaded lump might be delicious… or there might be a flesh-eating monster under all those deep-fried crumbs!

I think most of the time it goes deeper than that. We are so afraid to make a wrong choice and feel the resulting shame, that we simply give up our choices. That’s right – let the “waiter” choose. Then we can blame him for the outcome! Nobody can blame us for our failed and boring lives, these are just “the cards we were dealt” – to mess up my culinary metaphor.

Here is what happens when we refuse to just sit there – when we risk getting up and taking initiative for what ends up on our plate (and belly) We become people who are able to write something like this:

I’ve been told that the life of faith is an odyssey. An odyssey is an adventure full of surprises… every day is a wonderful experience for me. This is what God wants for your life too – an odyssey of faith-filled adventures as your covenant destiny is fulfilled. The question is, do you want it too? --- Dick Bernal, from his book Shaking Hands with God.

Here’s a toast to everyone who ever got up –even once—and dared to explore the odyssey that is life’s buffet.