Thursday, January 31, 2013

no bones about it

It was a hot day, and as usual a few degrees hotter in the kitchen as I began preparations for dinner over the gas stove.  I slid a big pot of boiled chicken to the counter, and began to cut it up, food for several meals in coming weeks.  As I stripped the bones clean, I put them in the trash.  At one point our helper, Bebeng, came into the room and noticed what I was doing.  “It’s okay I take the bones?” she asked me with an eager look on her face.


Those bones, and the extra fat I had also discarded, were a treasure to her.  She told me that she would boil them more to make chicken soup, and that the fat is filling.  Can you blame me if I didn’t clean the bones quite so carefully after that?  After all, what’s chicken soup without a little chicken?    

But who would have thought that bones and fat could be so valued?  

 The Psalmist knew their worth:
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
Psalm 63:5

I wonder, is my soul satisfied with what God has offered for my nourishment today?  Do I joy in the marrow and fatness, or do I only want the choice pieces of meat?  Am I only enthusiastic about some of His Word – the parts that taste good to me?  Or do I also find satisfaction in the parts that I find harder to digest?

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 48:10



But he knows the way that I take; 
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
Job 23:10


Morsels like these are ones I’d rather skip.  Throw out with the trash.  But what will I be missing out on if I do?  His Word must be taken in whole, or not at all.  I need every last bit.

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, 
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:4


The bones may be hard, but they are for my good.


4 comments:

Betsy de Cruz said...

This is a great analogy, Barbara. Your house helper's being excited over chicken bones is food for thought.

Judy said...

Thanks Barbs! I printed this up for my binder!

The Church Cook said...

This is a great post, Barb!

us5 said...

oh, Judy! this is just what i need to be reminded of! but if it does your spirit good, too, i'm glad. ♥♥♥