The Menu Varies

Going out to eat is fun. I enjoy many restaurants. The Cheesecake Factory and Chez Panisse are two of my favorites. They differ from each other, large and bustling to small and intimate. I considered another difference.

The Cheesecake Factory menu reads like a book, it’s overwhelming. Chez Panisse has one selection; the chef decides what to make each evening. The Cheesecake Factory’s extensive menu mixes and matches basic sauces and simple ingredients in endless variations. Chez Panisse relies on the excellence of local, fresh ingredients and the creativity of the chef. Whether offered unlimited options, or just one choice, both these approaches delight and satisfy each guest’s palette.

I was thinking how God serves a menu of choices in my life much the same way. Sometimes like the Cheesecake Factory he mixes and matches his basic truths with what I need. I long to feel his love, and someone appears offering the very thing I crave. I pray for direction and a Bible verse may come to mind or leap off the page. I require discipline and God gives a life lesson. God serves His extensive menu of love, grace, forgiveness, comfort, discipline and compassion in endless combinations. And sometimes like the chef at Chez Panisse God offers one choice served His way.

Whether God gives what I need in the moment like the short order cook at the Cheesecake Factory or whether he provides the same loving truth elegantly presented like the chef at Chez Panisse, God serves me the very best. But He doesn’t sugar coat the meal. Like many children, I don’t always want my veggies, even if I need them. God doesn’t force me to eat what He provides but I am not served something else. With no nutritious alternatives I may gorge on junk food. Though disappointed with my choices God he will not chastise me into accepting his meal. He will, however, offer his truth on a silver platter over and over until I recognize the marvelous choice and savor it.

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
Isaiah 54:10

Posted 3/28/2006 @ 9:24 PM | Weekly Thoughts