LIfe's Soup

Last week I wrote about physical health and wrapped that discussion up by discussing how our physical health impacts our abilities to serve in our faith.  We often want to put our lives into boxes and move ourselves from box to box.  The truth of the matter is that it is not possible to live fully under this approach.  The various aspects and dimensions of our life could looked at as a soup.  Yes, you heard that right our life can be looked as a soup.

Second Corinthians 4:6-8 says:

  For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair

This passage speaks of our lives as a vessel, in my line of thinking that is the soup pot.  Now if we were in the kitchen and were preparing a pot of soup we would choose various ingredients to include in that soup depending upon what we want to end up with and eventually eat.

Soups like people come in many forms.  There are hot soups and cold soups.  There are vegetable soups and soups that include meats.  You can make chili or chicken tortilla.  Each of these requires different ingredients in different proportions, and to get to your desired result it requires making decisions.

Aha, decisions are our control mechanism.  To build a life, like building a tasty soup requires making the right decisions of what to add to your life and in what proportions.

A tasty soup will have a good base to which all the subsequent ingredients are added, but which often controls the depth of the flavor.  Our lives also, if we do it well, will have a strong base in faith.  If we choose this base, then we have set the tone for the ultimate outcome of our lives.  Like completing that soup recipe we mix in other things that will add to the flavor and satisfaction of the soup.  

In our lives we add things like family, friends, home, work, health, finance, personal growth and so much more.  As we make decisions about how we mix these things we will find our lives taking on various flavors or tastes.  Just like those who are cooking up soup in the kitchen we must continually sample the product with a little taste test.  

In the realm of life this means consistently taking a look at ourselves and doing some self reflection, what is the taste we have currently?  Is it the life we desired, is it tasting more like that final flavor we are looking for?  If so then our life mix is on track, however if it is not, then we need to consider either emptying our bowl (pouring ourselves out before God) and refilling ourselves with that base of faith, or if we don't believe that we are off by much, then we can tweak the levels of the various ingredients bringing them into a more tasty balance. 

What is in your bowl today?  Are you feeling pretty good about the taste that the soup our your life is leaving in your mouth?  Today I challenge you to consider the soup of your life and make some decisions.  This is another way to Make Today Great!