Ron Ben-Israel, an Israeli-American pastry chef once remarked: “Pastry is different from cooking because you have to consider the chemistry, beauty and flavor. It's not just sugar and eggs thrown together. I tell my pastry chefs to be in tune for all of this. You have to be challenged by using secret or unusual ingredients.” Ezekiel 4:9 confirms: “And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them. During the number of days that you lie on your side, 390 days, you shall eat it.”
Life consists of many different recipes. Each recipe is usually made up of many elements and each ingredient performs its own individualistic and distinctive purpose. It may be to provide a suggestion of sweetness, spiciness, or just flavoring to the overall concept. On their own, each component often achieves very little, they are solitary items that rely on other things to complete their true goodness, but when they are combined with compatible items, then the result and effects can be stimulating. Some chefs have recipes for certain dishes that are considered unique. They have secret ingredients or methods known only to them, or perhaps handed down from generation to generation. The secrets are often closely guarded and protected from general publication or awareness to the extent that they could be equated to the most valuable item in the world.
One or more of the components used in the main course of a meal can be considered a key ingredient. This equally applies to starters or deserts. They are usually the main item around which the dish is formulated. It could include meat of varying types, fish, or vegetables to name but a few. There are usually six main components present in food. These include carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and roughage or dietary fibres. These essential nutrients satisfy several different needs of the body.
The bodily matter of humans is known to consist of many ingredients which include oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. Genesis 2:7 confirms: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” However, there may still be considerable secrets hidden within the basic shell of a person. What is important are the key characteristics of each individual. Each person could be said to create their own picture in life. Just as an oil painting consists of many different colored oils, applied to a canvas with care and precision, in varying degrees, so when combined, they complete the final impression or effect of the finished product. The use of oils provide greater flexibility in workmanship, richer and denser colors and the ability to multi-layer. They also provide more contrast which becomes apparent between light and darkness.
An indefinable story was once told of an artist who wished to create the perfect and complete image of a woman in a portrait. He began by painting the woman in every minute detail and feature as she stood on a small rostrum, but without any clothing. Once the original artwork had dried, he would then add individual items of apparel one by one, commencing with the underwear, by overlaying his original work with fresh paint and slowly building up the content until the model was covered and adorned in beautiful full attire. He was pleased with his completed work and offered it for sale. He informed his prospective purchasers of his method of artistry for this particular painting.
It received much interest and was quickly purchased by an avid art fanatic who would subsequently sit and gaze at the portrait for hours on end in his living room, simply imagining, wondering and visualizing what secrets could be revealed underneath that final top coat of paint! 1 Peter 5:8 reminds us: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
There are many characteristics that define a good person. They include an honest nature, forgiveness in the heart, generosity of spirit, concern and empathy for others and righteous living. These constitute the quality ingredients of life. Dennis Mark Prager, an American conservative radio talk show host and writer once remarked: “Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” 1 Samuel 16:7 confirms: But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
Many people may remember that special meal that their mothers made for them. Those special and secret ingredients or methods made her cooking so delightful and the meal so unique and enjoyable. How many times have we heard the words: “You should have tasted my mother’s cooking, it was really special. Her pastry was perfection itself and it was so light.”?
For some, the good life, which is so freely available to all, remains a mystery. The secret or unusual ingredients that can provide those memorable or unforgettable tastes or experiences remain elusive. We don’t attain the fullness of life. Should God invite us to join Him at the table for that special meal, He so freely provides, we ought to sit with Him and taste the secret or unusual ingredients, because otherwise, we will never know the memorable taste that we might experience. If we turn away or don’t show up, then we could lose the quality in life that can make it so unique.
James 2:14-17 reminds us: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
If we collect and use the essential good ingredients in life, we may achieve not only the perfect and unique repast to satisfy our own palette and those of others who are with us, but also experience and reap the satisfaction and joy of the unknown in life. It has been said on many occasions that those who live a life of helping others will glean much more reward and satisfaction than those who merely seek to help themselves. If we add these unique components to the preparation of that special dish in our own life, we begin to live a life with a defined purpose and meaning. Philippians 4:8 confirms: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Amen.
