the seventh food group

Have you ever bitten into something, and been entirely surprised by its taste or flavor?

Well, two days ago, I experienced that horrible sensation. Kids don't try this at home. Innocently licking what I thought was a dab of Shepherd's pie off my finger, I was met with the cruel realization that what I was tasting on my tongue was not indeed the rich and flavorful taste of the pie, but rather, dish soap that I had accidentally dripped on my finger. Please don't ask how I mistook the one for the other, but regardless, I did.

To make matters worse, as I went running to the bathroom, gagging, to wash that horrible taste out of my mouth, my mind did not function sufficiently quickly to realize the implications of placing water on the liquid disgusting-ness. The moment the water, intended to clean out the taste, hit the liquid soap, my mouth was filled with bubbles and suds. Quite literally, my little tasting mistake led to an almost rabid foaming at the mouth. While certainly an amusing picture to the observer (my sister), it was not an experience that I particularly enjoyed. Even as I type this, I can still taste the rather unpleasant flavor of Dawn.

Now, soap is an amazing thing. I'm still wondering who the genius was that looked at soapstone and thought "hmm, let me wash things with this stone." Without soap, we would not be able to clean clothes, dishes, floors, ourselves, or any number of other things. Diseases would spread much more rapidly. Dirty locations would be much more prevalent. And people, let's face it, would smell much worse. Soap is a wonderful thing, with many useful purposes. But those purposes and uses do not include ingesting it. Same thing with other good things in our lives. They have appropriate uses, times, and purposes, and when they are used in unintended ways or times, they fail to have the same beneficial effects. In fact, they can have devastating effects. Let me give you a couple of examples:

• Painkillers, as an addictive drug, rather than to deal with legitimate physical pain
• Sex, outside of the marriage context
• Words, when used to abuse or hurt or defame
• Money, when it is allowed to govern our lives, rather than provide for our needs and those of others
• Food, when it is over or under consumed
• Exercise, when it is over or under practiced
• Security, when it becomes an excuse not to follow as God calls us out of our comfort zones
• Relationships, when they start to take the place of God in our lives

All of these things, in and of themselves, are not bad. In fact, they're great things and gifts from God! But used out of proper context, they have nasty effects. Same as eating soap. Good thing. Not used effectively. So too, in the way that I can still taste the bubbles, often the effects are longer lasting than just in the moment...

Lesson of the day: Don't eat soap. Use God's gifts in proper context.