A Most Delicious Meal (Letters to My Father - January 28, 2017)

Dear Father,

Why do I always bite off more than I can chew? What if the things I needed to do and wanted to do were laid out like a menu at a fancy restaurant? I could pick any appetizer, entree, and dessert. But, I could only eat so much in a single sitting. Plus, everything would come at a cost. Could I really afford the crab stuffed mushrooms, tender filet, succulent lobster tail, and molten chocolate lava cake with raspberries? Do I really need it?

[Dear Reader: In the same way, I can only fit so much into my day. I might as well choose the best things, as best I can, which are not necessarily the things I want most. And the cost of the things I want might not be monetary either, but regret. Ever walk away from the table with a solid outtie belly button groaning, "I ate too much! Again!" Sometimes, I walk away from my day like that! I only need to remember where my food really comes from.]

What course would You be, Father? Of all the fancy menu items, would You be the nutritious mixed salad? The juicy and filling strip steak? Or what course would You be? The satisfying entree? Delightful dessert?

No, I think You'd be the bread and water. You'd be the only things that were free. The menu is merely a distraction from what I really need, even in a fancy restaurant. Besides, bread and water come out first just as I need to put You first in my life.

Yes, that is fitting. For Christ is the bread that comes from heaven, and He gives living water that the one who drinks it would thirst no more.

You'd also be the most expensive item at the table, deserving Your own menu: the wine list. Your Spirit, however, is not just the fruit of the vine, it is the blood of Christ. I'd see all the prices on this menu and know Yours has the highest cost, which no mere human born of Adam could pay.

I'd order it anyway, believing it was well worth the impossible price, only to discover after ordering it the price was already paid, in full. It would be given to me freely, gracefully, so rich and fragrant.

I'd end the meal of bread and water with a sip of this wine, the blood of Christ. It would be to me as a deposit of Your Spirit inside of me, guaranteeing my position as Your heir, a co-heir with Christ. From then on, that sip would seal this meal as the best ever, served with love, garnished with grace.

Love,
Dwight
Jan 28, 2017