Every so often I am reminded of how good something can be. The norm seems to have appropriated the looks and smells. The missing element is the taste and the experience. The quality of a stable ingredient in Japanese cuisine, soy sauce was the element. As standard as it might seem, when one experiences the best, everything else fades into a want-a-be sauce.
As I enjoyed the lunch experience, I could hear the whispers using the experience as a teaching foundation.
if one has never dug deeper, it is easy to assume something is authentic. Heirloom tomatoes come to mind as a special mushroom farm in the Emirates. One might not think of exploring, deconstructing, or looking for the best. Candidly, soy sauce would not normally be on my list. With this experience, I know the search is on.
Interpretations are not always accurate. When I see a triggering event, automatic conclusions and reactions follow. Life keeps reminding me to take a deep breath, pause, and look to see what really happened. This has been true across generations. When the second son took a leadership role over the first, people drew a conclusion. It did not need to be that way, but it did. A simple event “turned into a stark epigram: ‘I [Divinity] loved Jacob; I hated Esau.’” (Romans 9.13)
When someone takes something without permission, appropriated soy sauce in this case, kindness is always the starting point. One can appreciate the best in anyone or anything, even when it is not perfect. When one starts with a premise of positivity, strengths emerge, insights follow, and hope-filled opportunities emerge. The journey to being authentically real, filled with love, compassion, and care can be a long one. It is a journey with an open invitation to all. Keeping that door open is part of what I hear Divinity calling me to do. One can enjoy the present as one seeks a better future. Today, I will have opportunities to live, laugh, and love while moving towards my dreams. In each moment is a taste of tomorrow.
