Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Another Day on the Journey

I mentioned a few days ago The Workbook of Living Prayer by Maxie Dunnam. So far this is proving to be an excellent and enjoyable resource for improving one's prayer life.  Most importantly for me, it forces me to slow things down a little, to think about the gift of prayer, my attitude toward it, and what I'm trying to get out of it.  For indeed, prayer is a two-way street -- God desires to hear from those He loves much as parents desire to hear from their children regardless of any prior information.  And though it has been used as a Christmas list of sorts or a way to rub the crystal ball and get the right answer, prayer is a relationship thing.  Through prayer I grow more deeply in love with my Savior.  Through prayer He reveals Himself to me.  Through prayer our relationship becomes stronger and more intimate.

One of the activities in Dunnam's workbook suggests meditating on Psalm 34:8a

"O taste and see that the Lord is good!"

Indulge me, please, while I share my thoughts:
  
“O taste and see that the Lord is good.”
I think of a huge banquet table with food laid out beautifully as far as the eye can see.  To see, it leaves a lasting impression.  The image, the color travels to my brain.  The bright orange red of a lobster.  The fertile green garnish of kale around it.  Lemons the yellow of the sun dot the wreath.  Drawn butter in a spotless silver dish – golden, translucent.  From there, the bounty spreads forth – a feast of color for the eyes.  Shiny black olives, slick, red grapes, brilliant orange tangerines, and a vibrant rainbow of vegetables.  A mountain of consummately ripened fresh fruit looms over dazzling mirrored goblets, filled with the richest and finest Burgundy.  An enormous turkey, golden browned to perfection with skin as crispy and crackly as autumn leaves, rests at one end of the expanse; a dark brown rib roast, thickly encrusted in flavorful herbs and spices, awaits its first cut at the other, juices brimming with anticipation and a bright pink core, warm and glowing.
But to taste -- to taste is to imbibe in such a feast.  To taste is to allow it to permeate one’s being, to travel to multiple sensory receptors throughout the body, to nourish, sustain, please and immediately draw one’s lips into a reflexive smile, unfettered and involuntary.  To taste is almost to become one with it, to savor it, to move it around in your mouth, slowly experiencing it.  To taste is to mull it over, to attempt to define flavors and textures if at all possible.  Inhaling in order to, once again send the aroma swirling through the olfactory system, and allow the marriage of fresh air and fragrance to enhance and release the flavor found in the best foods.  Taste is experience, ambiance, the collective enterprise of multiple senses.  
"O taste and see that the Lord is good! 

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