I remember

Dear Family,

One of my favorite hobbies, growing up, was cooking. Yes. It's true. I loved to cook. Well more specifically, i loved to baked, especially cookies. I looked forward to Home Economics, because it meant that i could and would get a chance to practice new recipes at home. I would make sure the cookies were perfect, and in all the years, of home ec, i don't remember earning any grade lower than an A. I loved to cook.

As much as i loved to cook, and as much as i loved making stuff with my hands, one would think that i would have a better knowledge of all things cooking related. Not so.

One evening, as i was preparing for another round of chocolate chip cookies, i rummaged through the freezer door, looking for the normal bag of chocolate chips that i would use to embellish my sweet concoction. Without really reading the bag of chips, i grabbed them. They looked like chocolate chips. The bag was the same. They might have been, as far as i can remember, toll house, my favorite. But when i opened the bag, grabbing my handful of delicious treasures before cooking, throwing the dark morsels into my mouth, i discovered a painful truth.

Not all things are as they appear, and i should always read the package before rushing to judgment about any foods i throw into my mouth. These weren't "semi-sweet" chips, which i love. No. These were those dry, bitter, abomination for chocolate chips we call, "Dark chocolate."

We often take care to know fully what we are eating before we chow down, don't we? We look for calories and fat content. If we are organic folks, we strive to find those foods that are wholesome and pure, without any added preservatives. If we are bargain shoppers, we study, hard the cost per oz or unit, hoping to get the best deal possible. When it comes to our food, our money, our health, our cars, or our houses, we take our time, doing due diligence of research before we invest. We want to make sure the real deal is the real deal.

If that is how we treat that which is material and without a lot of true value, why do we rush, so quickly, to judgment when we are dealing with people, the most valuable of God's creations?

Jesus speaks to this reality when he says, from his place on top of that big hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged." And yet, this is so hard to do, isn't it? How many of us, truly, avoid judging others, before we truly get to know them? Or more than that, how often do we find ourselves pointing our noses up at other people, while ignoring the fact that to do that act, to "snub" someone is less Christlike than any sense of morality we claim to adhere to? To be Christlike, it seems, requires something other, something deeper, something holy, right?

If chowing down on chips, which i thought were "semi-sweet" caused a bitter taste in my mouth that took a lot of water to wash out, how much more bitter will the taste be, in our mouths, if we continue to judge all books, God's children, by their covers? Im careful to read the labels before eating any more "chips," let's hope i/we can do the same when we meet those who are different. Amen.

Shalom, Salaam, Peace...

Jerry

BTW: another book that i not only highly recommend, but as i posted on my facebook, i think this book should be in every home library: Bill Moyers, "Moyers on Democracy." Get it. Read it. And let the truth set you free...