I ordered the soup for two reasons. On a hot day, a cold and cooling dish was appealing. Additionally, based on the oh-so-brief description of the ingredients, I wanted to experience something I could not imagine. Gazpacho is traditionally cold, crisp, and savoury. With quail eggs, blackberries, and paper-thin crisp and marinated apples, I was going in blind. I had no idea of what would come. I wanted to discover the chef’s approach and intent. Methods, how to replicate, and what I would find were hidden from my view, at least for now.
There is more about life that one does not know than what one does. There is an element within me that wants to know everything. I would love to know the dates, milestones, and plan. I don’t know where my freedom fits within this quest. I recognise the curiosity and the interest in going through the experience. The unknown centres on what is already in place as I explore. It felt like I knew some elements were coming my way while everything else was just over the horizon and beyond what I could see. The scene was an echo of a writer’s observation; “True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time – but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going.” (Ecclesiastes 3.11)
Life is more than a one-and-done experience on a path. Each moment is my opportunity to capture how it touches my senses, reaches my heart, and potentially impacts my soul. In taking the moments in, I am opening life’s gifts so that each step can enhance and inform my heart and mind. If I want to get the most out of the experience, I will leverage different perspectives to reveal the insights and lessons that are hidden within. Life’s whispers remind me to be careful in the process. It is easy to get stuck in a repeating process that extends beyond the usefulness of the lessons within the moment. Life calls me to live.
