Preparation

red green blue and yellow

learning how to swim in shallow

mad sad glad and scared

does not render you prepared

high wide long and deep

meager sow meager reap

savory sweet bitter and sour

take the risk and do not cower

The Eleventh Commandment

Cupcakes were never my thing. They were too sweet, too colorful and housed in those irritating paper things. Then I saw Sharone make a nutella pistachio cupcake on Masterchef and felt a spark. But the real ignition came after the dentist hit some dormant cupcake nerve when he was drilling my premolar. A cupcake craving clasped me so tightly in its jaws I could scarcely think of anything else. Luckily my friend knew a nearby place with cupcake notoriety. She had a dark chocolate capuccino number and I had the orange white chocolate truffle wonder. Not sweet, perfect texture, crunchy mild chocolate infusion -- it was just what the doctor ordered. I left with that cucpcake on my mind, and returned the following night with that cupcake on my mind.

That cupcake plagued me for the next week, so when I finally returned on Friday night I was expecting to have my screaming cupcake appetite satisfied. But did they have that flavor? NO! Did I decide to be patient and return another day for my heart's delight? Of course not. I made the same error I have made so many times. I got something else, some sugary berry mix purply accident, and I was sorely disappointed. I was not satisfied. In fact, I was turned off.

Surely, "do not settle" is the 11th commandment.

The Jealous Fork

2 Timothy 2:20-21

"In the wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for the every good work."

Reality: Satisfaction comes from successful fulfillment of purpose. Even though the wooden fork is overworked and carelessly handled, while the golden fork is reserved for the finest of guests and occasions, is it possible for the golden fork to be jealous of his wooden counterpart? Not so much jealous of its nature, that is, its woodenness, but jealous of its busyness. There is never a boring moment with the wooden for because it is always working and participating. It is always in action. One moment it's testing the tenderness of potatoes, and the next it's delivering rice to the cook's mouth. All the while the golden fork has to sit in the gilded cabinet waiting. Waiting for that special feast, and that special person to arrive. And those long stretches of waiting which can extend for weeks, months and years are utterly boring and angst-ridden. Except for the occasional polishing day-in and day-out the golden fork is starved of interaction. Eyes peer in admiringly and are awed by its golden quality, and then they move on. They go back to testing the tenderness of potatoes with the wooden fork. Time is zooming for the wooden fork, while that of the golden fork has slowed to a snail's pace. The wooden fork is acquiring all sorts of experiences by the minute, while the golden fork is accumulating dust. But the owner of the forks knows what he is doing and why.

In Focus: Although the golden fork is of better quality than the wooden fork it is jealous nonetheless. However, jealousy is often a product of social myopia and distracted thinking. If Jesus had suffered from these things then he would never have completed his ultimate mission. The key here is to understand the purpose of the golden fork which is almost completely different from that of the wooden fork. Even though I should expound, I won't because the point is very obvious. This is the irony of being special and set apart. The waiting is almost unbearable. But if one can scale that hurdle, one will find that it was all worth it.

The owner of the forks knows what he is doing and why. Why would he set aside a golden fork if he knew no special guest or feast are planned? He knows these things are coming, and what might be an eternity to the golden fork, is a few weeks to him. And though the golden fork squirms and frets it does not accelerate, delay the special event or worries the owner. There is a time for everything.