It’s Monday night again. The sidewalks of a driveway in our neighborhood was, once again, filled with weekly vegetable vendors. Walking down the crowded street, it gives me sweet taste from varieties of seasonal vegetables and fruit.
Late into the night, I ventured out to the weekly market, to get our vegetable and fruit stock, likely for a week’s. Amongst the hundreds of vegetable vendor, there was this odd sweet vendor who is selling only hot and crispy Jalebi or Zulbia. Jalebi is made by deep-frying white flour batter in pretzel or circular shapes, which are then soaked in sugar syrup.
Today I bought few coil of the sweet with me. And when I reached home, my children giggled in joy when they saw the sweet. However, we ate some portion of it, as it is not advisable to have sweet just before going to bed, and kept the leftovers for the next day.
As we retired into our bed for the day, after cleaning up a bit, they demanded stories as usual. My little girl wanted to hear my Childhood Stories; especially involving my childhood friends and neighbors. So I told her my childhood memories, which gave me a good savoring the sweet taste of bygone years, as I narrated for her. I thoroughly enjoyed it too!
Savoring the Sweet Taste of Time:
Now, we continued our story time till the wee hours of the night. When she wanted to help by adding her thoughts, she did it so. We have a hearty conversation.
It somehow surprised me, when she took me back to the time I was hospitalized. She reiterated she missed me at home, but I doubt she could really recall those days, as she was just a baby. Needless to say she had given me correct turns of events, so I believed she remember it well.
It saddened me to know their bitter experiences, because of my ill-health, as a very small child. It happens just few years after I decided to take up the fulltime job as a stay-at-home dad. Some people still mocked me for choosing to quit my job.
“Daddy, when you’re hospitalized, once we had this Jalebi at home. And it was really tasty,” she said savoring the sweet taste in the midst of our hard times. Now that’s a breather for me.
She reminded me that there still is a sweet taste of life, even in the midst of our sufferings or hard times. I understand that she’s savoring the sweet taste of, may be, the Jalebi she had at that time. Yet I’m happy she brought it up, the balancing flavor of life, for me and my children. And I thank God for sweetening her otherwise not so relishing periods of our life.
In our distress, it would be practical to remember the good deeds, savor the sweet taste, of the Lord. It is better to savor the sweet moments in life than to stay bitter, not only focusing in the bitterness of times. (Psalms 77:11, 12)
Savoring God in our Life:
How can one remain bitter without tasting God? How can one declare the sweet taste as sour without savoring it? To taste something we need to take in adequate amount, wait for the flavor to explode and reached our taste buds. We did not simply hork or gobble it down.
“Taste and see that the Lord is good,” the Psalmist invited us. (Psalms 34:8) Many often go to the Lord, groaning and whining, without giving time to taste God.
We must slow down in our approach; have patience and concentration in the Lord, so that we taste the goodness of the Lord. If we let God’s presence linger around us, it is possible to savor the real taste of God.
When we starving or hungry, we savor the taste of our intake more than ever. In the midst of our adversity, we might well savor the sweet taste of the Lord. In our normal being we hardly take time appreciating the deeds of the Lord. However, once we’re in the valley of the shadow of death the deeds of the Lord become crystal clear. And it would be unwise not to wait for that moment .
By hoping and waiting on the Lord, our spiritual palates will savor the taste of the Lord even in our darkest hours.
God’s essence is eternal, rich enough to feed us all, and His living water never runs dry. Once we in take His living water, we keep on savoring the taste of the Lord throughout a life time. His water oozes out relishes once we tasted from God.
Tasting and seeing that God is good, by savoring facets of life, is of experiencing the all fulfilling God. As one took delight in savoring good food; so does the heart in savoring the sweet taste of God.
Relishing our Life:
In our life, there are times as sweet as honey. Those times in our life relish our pain and brought a smile to our face once we think of it. Yet there are also times our memories brought tears, of joy and regret, in our life.
Dreading on the past mistakes of life and the possible miseries of life would makes us not wanting to live. To a person who can think our future do hold much as we analyze events and studies, in our limited mind.
Yet we tend to forget God’s good work when our life’s normal. In any case, any hurdle cropped up, then, we started complaining. We should thank God every now and then.
Without God, we cannot relish flavors of life. The flavors of life could simply make our life turn sour. Yet once we relinquished unto the Lord, and savor the taste of His authority, we felt satisfied. For, the Lord is our shepherd; we lack nothing!
The word of God tasted as sweet as honey in our mouth, but when we had eaten it; it will make our stomach turn sour. It is in contrast with our worldly endeavors. However, it is good for us in the long run.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the Lord delivers him out of it all.
The Lord redeems the soul of his servants.
And those who trust in Him shall not be condemned.
(For more: Read Psalms 34)
Do you remember the good deeds of God in your difficult times? Have you tasted God and see God is good? It might take time to really taste and savor the goodness of God. Take your time….
Come, let’s taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who put his trust in Him!
