THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Are you treating everyone with dignity and respect?

A DIFFERENT KIND OF KINDNESS PROJECT

The other day, I was sent a story about an interaction between a homeless man and a manager at a Chik-fil-a. The homeless man had come in asking for remnants and anything they might be throwing away. Instead the manager offered to pray with him and then gave him a full meal. It is in these acts of radical hospitality that we practice unity. Whether this story is true or not is not important. What is important is the lesson it teaches about how to practice unity. When we honor the dignity in others and treat them with respect, then we work together in unity to promote love and kindness in the world

The world is full of people like this. The other day as I was in my mart cart waiting to check out at the grocery store, a young boy offered to help take all the groceries out of my cart. While I did not need the help, I could see that this was something he wanted to do and so I graciously accepted. What I learned was this this was a practice his parents were teaching him. Each day he is to do something kind for someone. When he does he gets a kindness sticker on his calendar. When he has a full calendar, his parents do something for him. His mom told me that one month, his act of kindness was to tell his parents they did not need to reward him for being kind. They did anyway.  He has learned to work in unity with others to help achieve little goals.

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THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT

As many of you know, the show Chopped on the Food Network never ceases to be a source of inspiration for this blog. Last night was no different, albeit for different reasons. The cheftestants were not those who work as restaurant chefs, private chefs, or even culinary instructors. They were those who worked in non-profit organizations preparing food for those we so often call “the least of thee.” One cooked for the Fresh Air Fund and others cooked for various homeless shelters. It was the story of one of the cheftestants who talked about going from being homeless to being able to cook at the shelter that moved me. It reminded me of a time in my own life when I had almost become homeless. His story also moved me because of how they served their clients in the homeless shelter. Their dining facility did not have line that people went through, but was set up like a restaurant with menus and a volunteer staff that served as wait staff.

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ALL ARE WORTHY

Somebody recently asked me why I continue to write in this blog? How many different connections can one possibly make between food and spirituality? I just smiled and said the connections are endless. They challenged me to make a connection between food addictions and spirituality. As I have a few (olives, pot stickers, sashimi, anything spicy, and seafood), I found this interesting. Just about everyone I know has a food they crave. Recently I saw an article that talked about how fast foods activate similar parts of the brain as drugs. I can say, at least for me, that my addiction to my foods of choice is not about the food. It is about me. There are things about those foods in which I find comfort and a kind of satisfaction that I do not get from other foods, especially at certain times in the semester (grading frenzy), or around the holidays. When somebody offers me the opportunity to eat any one of the three things listed above, my mouth begins to salivate. Even writing about them, I find myself thinking about Guy Fieri when he talks about how the jets in his mouth are turning on while he watches one of the guests on his show cook one of their signature dishes.

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