Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Salt and Pepper (07/24/14)
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TITLE: What's Your Taste? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dee Kyalo
07/29/14 -
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Some years ago I had just started this new job and was still getting acquainted with everything around. A few days into orientation, my colleagues and I were on lunch break and everything was going well until I pulled out my salad and seasoned it with salt and black pepper instead of ranch dressing. Suddenly their chattering faded out and when I looked up I was met with perplexed stares.
Breaking the awkward silence, Fridah asked, “Are you alright?”
“Sure.” I said smiling but I was a little confused. “Why?” I asked.
Terry slid the ranch dressing bottle across the table in my direction and that’s when it dawned on me that these ladies thought I was weird!
Someone once said that we don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are. How often that proves true. If the tables were flipped I could be the one questioning if they were alright. I would argue, because drenching vegetable salad in ranch dressing like that is unhealthy and it beats the purpose.
We are quick to judge others by their actions but we judge ourselves by our intentions. How a person seasons their food is their own preference. Besides, what does it matter? It has nothing to do with you. The salt and pepper goes on their own plate not yours. And yes, they are alright.
Mainly because of our diverse backgrounds or upbringing, we have opinions that are poles apart and getting everyone to agree on matters is like trying to get them to agree on the use and/or amount of salt and pepper on their food. That is why we judge. However God has been so gracious to us and provided a common ground – His Word, on which when we stand we see things as they ought to be.
While that particular incident may not have been too serious, it somehow reminds me of Jesus addressing the real problem in Matthew 7:3-5 NLT. We often judge from a distorted viewpoint. We criticize the speck of sawdust in another’s eye and pay no attention to the log in our own eye. I may not put ranch on my salad and even criticize those that do but my salt and pepper intake may be over the roof. Now, that’s a plank!
I learned that Christians do not only come with different tastes, they come in different tastes too – some salt, others pepper while still others bland but one thing that should make us taste as we ought is pleasing God. Suppose I had brought in some pork chops for lunch, thereby stumbling a young believer in the process then I would be held accountable as explained in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 NLT. So in my relationships with people, I often ask myself: What taste do I come in? Am I salt, pepper or just tasteless to their lives?
More inspirations from Romans 14:1-23 NLT, Matthew 5: 13 NLT, Job 6:6 NLT and Mark 9:42 NLT
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A nice way of showing different "tastes".