This piece was written long ago but every year end it seems to be most fitting to resurrect it to rekindle love of life and appreciation for God's work in it. Just a teeny-weeny nudge to thoughts... yours and mine.
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MUSINGS ON A DISH OF PASTA
I just love any pasta dish-- the simple home cooked one or the fancy restaurant kind. I remember Mom could put together a mean mouth-watering pasta dish any time just like that weaving her magic in the kitchen while I watched with great anticipation. Birthdays were fantastic pasta days in the house. I was a fast and messy pasta eater getting all that sauce on my chubby cheeks even to my long black hair and down to my pretty birthday dress. Mom would simply smile and gently tell me to eat my pasta slow.
Eat your pasta slow. That is so much like life, don't you think? Live life slow, why the rush? Like it or not, time flies unmindful of our cares and woes. It just moves along. Opportunities come and go, but this can be said of it - it came yesterday, could be here today, and definitely there will be more of it tomorrow. Same thing with people- they come and leave no matter how much we would rather have them stay. People change - they grow, mature, develop, and journey down separate life roads. There's no holding back the years either-- we grow old and our health changes along with it. It's all going to happen in its own space, place, pace, and time. Everything in our life comes in its own time. It's the rhythm of life. Life is neither quick nor slow; it only appears that way as you perceive it to be. An empty life sees the clock ticking at a slow drag, but a life holding a wonderful pot of thrills, experiences and adventure sees the clock as a dear companion whether it ticks the time fast or slow. Life is precious; so why hurry it? Enjoy your life. Enjoy your pasta and remember to eat it slow.
The many things which go into a dish of past make for a delicious bite each time I twirl it round my fork. I know what goes into a good pasta dish-- bits of meat, mushroom, choice vegetables, red tomatoes, green pepper, cheese, and tasty sauce. Others would put in mushroom, squid, sardines, bacon or ham, some other ingredient to step up the flavor or some other strange unfamiliar spices. And, yet taken all together the finished dish would create such a huge gastronomic delight.
So many ingredients, just like a pasta dish, go into life, too. Each one lends to the overall flavor of our existence. Life is a huge beautiful colorful intriguing tapestry, but to which we seem to have lost the ability to see or appreciate. I guess it is time to get that all back and get on with a fresh new start.
And life is worth it! Bite into life with good cheer and hope. Trust in the skill of the GREAT CHEF who knows how to put together a good pasta dish called life. Enjoy it but eat slow! Or should I say 'live slow'. God bless you all.
(By the way, these pictures can all be found on the internet. But in real time I can say this that my three daughters can cook up a sumptuous dish of pasta anytime! Reminds me of mom.)
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013, EVERYBODY!!!
