The following is a guest post by one of my best friends, Sara. She says it better than I could!
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The Paleo* fitness lifestyle has taught me a thing or two about quality life experiences. The thoughts surfaced to the forefront of my mind today as I was driving (the car forever and always the best place of epiphany). I’ve heard a few tout that quality ingredients cause for a spoiled tongue. But alter that thought. Take it into the context that quality ingredients cause for a more knowledgeable palate. Quality fats cause the tongue to more readily reject the rancid fats. Something within the taste buds resonates “FRAUD.FRAUD.” And that Jack ‘n the Box 1/3lb patty begins to dry up in your mouth and sit like a rock in your stomach. Guilt surfaces in your mind about how you just wasted a couple of your precious bills and loose change.
I remember distinctly my first taste of raw cocoa nibs, and more recently my first taste of hand-ground chocolate — versus the silky texture of machine processed. When I sampled it something dawned on me.
This is NOT chocolate.
But try again. And forget what consumer culture tells you. I promise. You’ll realize the purpose of chocolate. And the next time you take a bite of a Hershey bar you’ll better recognize the purpose of the fillers. I was in the car today munching down on some dark chocolate Raisinets purchased at the Dollar Store. And as the taste of cardboard box and sugar kept disintegrating with every chew I was constantly wondering, “Why am I eating this?” And I finally realized that I was eating them for that faint hint of raisin that would intermittently surface between my molar and tongue. But even that wasn’t enough to warrant continuing my binge.
But I binged anyway. Then I tried to do some sprinting and almost yak-ed, but that story for another time.
I do that sometimes, try to wolf down a Chik-fil-a sandwich and cookies ‘n cream milkshake hoping for the same satisfaction that I at one time recieved. At times I want to live my old diet**, in a sense, be my old self. Because I feel like I deserve to be a glutton while my metabolism still allows it. But I realize more often that my body was never created to be a glutton and I suffer the digestive, metabolic, and hormonal consequences. It has ceased to set me back, but it does waste a day of potential productive energy.
I’m reminded of freshman year, a year marked by extended moments of torment and few revelations. I knew what quality moments and quality experiences were — vaguely. But I wanted to forge a new path, one that I wasn’t able to pursue in high school but had always wanted to pursue for the heck of it. You’re young, right? I mean, youth has a definitive obligation to pursue recklessness before responsibility sneaks up on us. Parties, guys, recreational drug use. It’s what college calls for. But the fervent 18 years of prayer from a passionate mother makes all the difference in a person’s life. And despite trying to make myself do it, a voice inside kept telling me that I was not created for this. And in the chaos of fighting the urge to not be reckless I stood paralyzed for a time. I allow myself a few seconds every few months to sit in remorse of the time wasted for Christ***.
I want to break down a quality moment before I finish. My mind has a way of categorizing and processing events in a unique way, a way I know I share with others in this world. And because of that my view of reality is unique from the view of a number of others, an artistic eye I suppose. I’ve talked to a few people who use drugs in order to feel like they have a unique perspective on life. And I have to ask them, “but do you?” Or are you fooling yourself? To backtrack on my analogy, are you just grasping at the taste of raisin and tolerating the thick imitation chocolate around it? I’ve had my share of Raisinet experiences on reality, enough to realize that it’s all filler. A search for quality is at the core of all Raisinet experiences, and it’s why we continue to pursue them. But I am not created to view life in filler experiences and within the realm of their terms, but instead created to view my surroundings with a sober eye, open ears, and time.
The next time you are tempted by your struggles, and especially if you fall prey to them, take time to analyze where the fillers are and where the quality experience is. It might be gossip, lying, banter, drugs, food, sex. Pray for revelation. And you might realize that it’s time to throw away what’s left of your Raisinets, forget trying to pick through the filler, and buy a bag of raisins instead.
Cut straight to Quality. To Jesus.
*The tangent of my choice of diet is a conversation better argued at me in person.
**I’m not saying that in real life I’m too proud to eat Ramen, because I will if I need to. But for the sake of the metaphor/analogy, let’s not worry about that.
***All you can do is let it pass.
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“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
–Philippians 3:12-14–
“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?”
–Ezekiel 18:31–