Monday, May 14, 2012

May 14 –Vegetables Served With Love

Proverbs 15:17

Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox served with hatred. (NASB)
May is asparagus time of the year. Someone is out in the fields early in the morning bending over with a sharp knife cutting those asparagus spears one by one. Hard, back breaking work. Some farmers have had to let their crops go because they just don’t have the workers to harvest their crops. It is not the type of produce that everyone grows in their garden, like tomatoes. It takes a year to grow the plants from seed, and then the harvesting begins in the second year of growth. The asparagus crowns can produce for 15 years, but it takes a lot of work, and love.  Serve up my favorite spring vegetable, roasted asparagus. I could make a meal of just that especially when eaten with other people I love, who are also crazy about asparagus.

I’d rather eat just fresh seasonable vegetables any day with family and friends than to eat a nice juicy steak with someone who hates me, or whom I dislike. The tension never allows the food to digest properly when you are eating a meal with someone with whom you are in conflict. It may just sit in your stomach, churning. No digestion—no value to your body.

Love is a special thing. The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:16 that God is love. “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” When we love God, it is easier for us to love others. I know. I was a harsh tongued and cruel person before I came to really know God. God changed my heart and my life. He changed my tongue to speak “tasty” words, encouraging to others rather than cutting them down. This is love. Serve that up with some fresh seasonal vegetables.

Lord, help us to show your love to others by the way we treat them. Give us tasty food to share with all in love.

Roasted asparagus
  2 pounds asparagus
  Olive oil
  Course ground salt
  Fresh ground pepper

Thoroughly wash asparagus and break off the tough end (discard), usually about one inch. Heat the barbeque or oven to 400 degrees. Place the asparagus on aluminum foil or a perforated barbeque roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on the BBQ or in the oven for about twenty minutes. Time may vary depending on the size of the asparagus. Turn after about 10 minutes. Remove when they are still tender, before they are charred.  Serves 8-10 people.
© 2012 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

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