Happy Holidays! I must admit, I’m feeling a little stressed. My husband lost his job. As a result, I’ve gone back to work full-time which is more difficult due to my fibromyalgia. I’m dealing with a bully of my special needs daughter. I’m wondering if my husband will find a job in the next month before I need to buy more meds, a couple of which cost $2000 without insurance. I feel like I have a lot on my plate. Speaking of plates…
Tonight, I took one of my children to our local all-you-can-eat buffet, called Chuck-a-Rama. That name always makes me giggle. I think of it as Upchuck-a-Rama. My youngest children call it Chuck-a-Grandma. We arrived at rush hour for buffets. We had to wait outside in single digits cold. We were happy to get inside and wait even longer. As we stood in line, we watched the people who had already made it “in.” We were hungry in line but the people inside walked happy and satisfied around the buffet with plates full of delights, picking and choosing to their heart’s content. Finally, it was our turn to get our own plates and select our favorite delights. I especially love the monkey bread with gooey cinnamon bread and white icing. I enjoy looking at the endless array of beverages and combining my own concoction. I’m not going to tell you how many desserts I sampled. Whereas I was hungry, now I was completely and utterly full. My mind wandered back to my analogy of long ago called “Hungry at the Feast?” I’d like to share it with you now.
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Imagine this, you’ve traveled far and have been “figuratively” hungry for so long. You have trials, troubles, and afflictions which weigh you down and cause you to physically and spiritually hunger for something better. You walk hungry your entire life but you hear of this amazing feast where you will never hunger again. "Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6.) I believe this feast is with God and you can enter "without money and without price" (Isaiah 55:1.) I've thought of the feast after this life but it could be sooner. At the beginning of the feast, you might complain about how long you’ve been hungry. But when you’re full with no expectation of hunger again, do you need to complain about all the time you were hungry or afflicted? Just like me complaining about all the time to wait in line for a buffet when I’m in the buffet and I’m full.
Do some of us in this life not realize we're in a line to the greatest buffet of all time, the buffet of God? We complain without realizing our needs will be met in a most amazing way, soon. This analogy gives me hope of my own trials and troubles vanishing away and of all of my needs being met at a later date. I mean, who can still be hungry at the feast? I’m still working on complaining less but I know God understands. Seasons Greetings! Or, should I say Seasons Eatings? May you be filled physically and spiritually with the light and love of this holiday season.
Do some of us in this life not realize we're in a line to the greatest buffet of all time, the buffet of God? We complain without realizing our needs will be met in a most amazing way, soon. This analogy gives me hope of my own trials and troubles vanishing away and of all of my needs being met at a later date. I mean, who can still be hungry at the feast? I’m still working on complaining less but I know God understands. Seasons Greetings! Or, should I say Seasons Eatings? May you be filled physically and spiritually with the light and love of this holiday season.
