Saturday Sushi

Matt and Joanna and Kaleb and Kaitlyn came for a visit today. They arrived in time for brunch, which was a true family affair. Linda made gluten-free waffles. Jared peeled and fried potatoes. Tiana set the table. Elena peeled onions. Patrick made a bunch of scrambled eggs. Daniel made tea and coffee. Christopher ran errands. And I took Linda's waffle batter and Elena's onions, and transformed them into onion rings that were truly yummy!

After brunch, we sat and chatted, dreaming about a patio and courtyard (Janet's dream) complete with a stone wall, or about a humongous deck (Rick's dream, remember?), and asking Matt what he thought about the whole idea. That got us to talking about Courtyards in Roman times, then about villas with gardens in the center of the home. We began designing a home, just for fun.

By then the rain had stopped and all the big people (except for pregnant Joanna and busy me) headed outside to do more yard work. Joanna cleaned my kitchen then went for a little nap, and I finished designing my dream house. The afternoon flew by with a million little tasks occupying my time and thoughts, then I got supper ready for the hungry workers.

Rick grilled hamburgers and chicken burgers on the barbecue; we had rice, corn, peas, sliced tomatoes and onions and condiments. Leftover waffles make great hamburger buns for celiacs, we've discovered, and are much better than bread done in the breadmaker. Supper was an enjoyable meal, with all kinds of bantering back and forth as we shared stories and experiences with each other.

Cleaning up took very little time, as I was smart enough to suggest using paper plates for the meal. Matt and Joanna soon left for an evening affair, and I decided to make sushi for tomorrow's lunch. I had the seaweed paper and lots of leftover sticky rice. We boiled a few asparagus stalks, and I opened a can of wild salmon. We cut up a few cherry tomatoes, and used up some leftover corn.

Here are the results:



They aren't perfect. Some are bigger than others. Corn is not usually an ingredient in sushi, as far as I know. But they taste good, and Linda whipped up six different dips to use, both for the sushi and for the veggie trays we'll have with them.

Now, I know my husband won't like them. He may force himself to taste one or two, but fiddly little things wrapped in seaweed won't impress him much. That's why I will make him a sandwich to eat for lunch tomorrow, before we sit through three hours of grueling instruction in Old Testament Biblical Theology!

Life is a bit like sushi: a lot of rice with some strange and wonderful additions, all wrapped up in seaweed. Rice is kind of mundane and plain, like the normal, everyday tasks we do, over and over again. They are a necessary part of life. The strange and wonderful additions add colour to our lives, much like the pink salmon, the yellow corn, the green asparagus, and the red tomatoes. Our lives are filled with holy interruptions - sometimes joyful, sometimes painful, but all designed to nourish us in our spiritual growth. The seaweed wrapped about the sushi reminds me of God, Who surrounds us every day with His grace and wisdom. He is what holds it all together!

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He sighed.

Have you ever thought about these two little words found twice in the Bible: "He sighed"?

Mark 7:34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened."

Why did You sigh, Lord? You had just sent the demon from the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, who had reminded You that "even the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs." You were about to transform the very life of one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, by opening his ears and loosing the impediment from his tongue. And You sighed.

Was it because of the fact that sin had marred the beauty and perfection of creation? You would never have had to put Your fingers in the ears of anyone to heal them, were it not for our first parents' eating the forbidden fruit in rebellion.

You sighed. Was it because You took him inside, away from the multitude, yet You knew that the more You would command the people to tell no one, the more they would proclaim it? Is it because we are so quick to disobey, to consider our own way to be the right way, even when You have commanded otherwise? Is it because we fallen creatures are so interested in the immediate - this temporal life with all its perks and pleasures - rather than the eternal? Did You sigh because You knew the people would focus on this miracle You had performed, proclaiming You to be the newest "star" in the culture of the day, with nary a thought regarding their fallen condition or the reality of the eternal?

They did not know, Lord. Is that why You sighed? They didn't understand that it was not the physical actions You performed by putting Your fingers into his ears, and touching his tongue with Your spit that healed him - it was Your word. You SAID, "Ephphtha, Be Opened". You spoke plainly. You commanded. They disregarded Your command.

No wonder You sighed.

You must sigh even today, when You see Your children going their own way and doing their own thing. You must sigh when You see us scurrying around, helter-skelter, rushing to accomplish much in things that are temporal, that will be burned up on the Last Day.

Forgive us when we do not listen to you.

Forgive us when we focus on things of this earth.

Forgive us when we rush to and fro, accomplishing much of what matters little.

Teach us Your way, O Lord. Teach us to pay attention to what YOU, Our Master, desires. Teach us that life is found in You, and You alone.

Help us, Lord. Do not give up on us. When You look at me, and sigh, let it be with the sigh of an ever-so-patient, gracious, and loving Parent towards a stumbling, faltering, wayward child. Have patience with me, O Lord. Correct me with kindness. Show me Your way. Direct my feet back on Your paths, and make my path straight.

Help me not to neglect Your word. Give me a desire to focus first on You, then on my husband and children. Give wisdom, Lord, to me. You promised to give it liberally, and I need it in abundance. Help me to order my day in such a way as to bring Your smile of approval on my feeble attempts to redeem the time You have given me. Let me feel Your presence. Let me walk as Your obedient servant, desiring only to please You.

I want to walk with You through the rest of my days, bearing fruit that will remain. I want to hear those precious words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Psalm 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;
15 To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

May it be, Lord. May it be.

Meditation

I am reading and working through a book by Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline. In my study of the Puritans and Reformers, I realized that they had something that I don't have, something I deeply desire: a disciplined life characterized by an intimate relationship with the Lord of Glory.

Richard Foster lists meditation, prayer, fasting, study as the inward disciplines. Outward disciplines include simplicity, solitude, submission, and service. Corporate disciplines are confession, worship, guidance and celebration.

I have been studying meditation this week.

My first reaction is to desire meditation, yet wonder if I will have the strength of character and patience to pursue the living God in this manner. Lord, give me that desire.

The basic difference between eastern meditation and Christian meditation is that eastern seeks to empty oneself to the point of losing one’s personhood and becoming detached from the world, while Christian meditation knows that detachment is not enough: we must go on to ATTACHMENT to Christ. We must give ourselves freely to God.

My life is crowded by trivial pursuits such as computer games, and more important tasks such as being a wife to my husband, managing my home, training my children, and ministering to the Patriarch’s Wives. I am busy, but much of what I am busy at is unnecessary and foolish. Television robs me of time. I need to learn to redeem the time and use my moments wisely.

I do have a desire to hear the Lord’s voice in the midst of all the clutter. Lord, make it so.

Only to sit and think of God;
Oh what a joy it is!
To think the thought, to breathe the Name
Earth has no higher bliss.

~Frederick W. Faber

To sit and think of God requires focussing my attention on Him - on His beauty, majesty, power, awesome acts of Creation, marvellous plan of salvation, and great grace.

I am undone; unworthy. It is humbling to approach such glory when I am so full of sin.

To consider that He not only allows me to approach, but encourages and welcomes me, knowing my frame, can only produce amazement at His grace and mercy.

His mercy endures forever.

Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 ¶ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

That I may know Him... I don’t just want to know of Him...I don’t simply want to know what the Bible says or where this doctrine is found. I want a living relationship with the God of the Universe. I want to bask in His presence and tremble at the thought of shaking my fist in His face. I want to feel Him with me moment by moment through every day, through every little trial and irritation. I want, selfishly, that He should transform me and give me more of His grace and wisdom. I must learn self-control. I cannot do that apart from Him, apart from surrendering to His control.

I am sick of the hypocrisy I see in my life. I drip words of wisdom and encourage others to get their eyes off of themselves and onto the Lord of Glory, then I turn and treat my husband shamefully when he doesn’t come to the table on time for a meal. This ought not to be so.

James 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

What an encouragement the next few verses of Philippians are!

12 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.
13 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,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I press on, because Christ has laid hold of me. I press on, because He called me to Himself and He is leading me by His grace. I forget those things that are behind, those accomplishments I have achieved, but I remember His grace and mercy, and I remember my sins and my faults, so I can be ever thankful for His mercy and love. I press towards the goal: God! Jesus! Heaven! Grace! Mercy! God’s glory! I press on, ever mindful of His mercy and grace in my life.

I press on.

Father God, thank You so much for Your grace in my life. Thank You that even when I sin, it is of Your good pleasure to reveal to me the deepest, darkest recesses of my soul. Oh, Lord, give me the grace to live for You. I want to die to sin, and live as a slave to the Master. My life is not my own; I was bought with a price - the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world, including my sin. I praise You, I glorify Your name. I give thanks to You. In Christ’s glorious name, I pray. Amen.