by Rev. Dr. Jessica Margrave Schirm – Senior Pastor, Grinnell United Church of Christ – Congregational
This weekend I unexpectedly had an entire day at home with no place I had to be. Enneagram One that I am, I was excited to have extra time to do laundry and sort through piles of junk mail and catch up on some work. I also decided to make a few meals that would feed us with leftovers for a couple of days – one of which was a big bowl of chicken pasta salad.
I spent the morning slowly prepping all the ingredients – I cooked the pasta, boiled eggs, chopped veggies, made the sauce and cooked the chicken. Once I had everything ready, I arranged it all on the counter to throw together and chill in the fridge so we could eat on it all weekend long.
I told the smart speaker to play my favorite playlist, I was bopping around the kitchen singing like a goofball, peeling the eggs, throwing everything together and when I grabbed the bowl with the chicken in it – the last ingredient to add to the mix – I discovered it was empty.
“ALEXA STOP!” – I shouted, as if turning off the music would make the chicken reappear. I spun in circles – looking all around our small kitchen as if the chicken was somehow hiding behind a small appliance. I double checked that I hadn’t left it in the fridge. But no, the bowl was sitting exactly where I had put it on the counter just a bit ago – at that time filled with chicken – but now totally empty.
Mysteriously…highly unusually…there were no labrador retrievers in the kitchen with me…coincidence? I think not. Somehow, while my back was turned and my ears and mind were distracted by the music, our biggest lab, Ebony, must’ve counter surfed her way over to the chicken bowl and silently helped herself to all the delicious goodness I’d conveniently left too near the edge. She’s the only one tall enough to reach and is known for her counter surfing antics. I couldn’t help but laugh at her sneaking the chicken out of the ceramic bowl without me even noticing. What a clever, opportunistic scoundrel of a dog.
I made the pasta salad anyway – chickenless of course. And thought all weekend about what it would be like to have the audacity of a black lab who just can’t handle themselves around unattended chicken on a kitchen counter.
I am certainly not – at all – a hashtag #blessed type of Christian. I spend way too much time thinking about what it says about God if only some of us get to claim blessings while others get kicked while they are down. I am also certainly not advocating for taking what isn’t ours – especially when stories of privilege, lack of consent and rampant abuse dominate our headlines on the daily. But I am thinking about what it means to intentionally seek out joy, goodness, deliciousness, happiness, delight – whenever we can, however we can as long as it is safe and respectful and consensual to do so.
We do not have to try very hard to find things that will stress us out, wear us out or bring us down. We don’t have to convince our minds to worry or fear. Our lizard brains are hardwired to prioritize remembering which berries and flowers are poisonous over which ones we think are the most tasty and beautiful. So, it takes a little extra effort to intentionally seek out joy when it is so much easier to despair.
We have to take full advantage of our ability to experience the goodness of this life if we have any hope of making it through the awfulness. As the Preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us, “How good, how lovely it is to eat and drink and find satisfaction in everything we do under the sun during the few days of life God gives us – to embrace everything that comes to us! Regardless of how much wealth or possessions God gives us, we’re also given the ability to find joy in what we have, to accept whatever happens to us, and find fulfillment in our work – this is God’s gift to us.” Or in summary – as all the great bards have said – “Eat, drink and be merry – for tomorrow we die.”
So what are you joyously snatching off the countertops of life right now? What shows are you binge-watching? (Heated Rivalry?! Bridgerton?! The Pitt?!) What books are you devouring? (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Theo of Golden?) What songs are you adding to your favorite playlists? What seeds have you planted in the dirt (literally or metaphorically) that you are anxiously awaiting their bloom? When was the last time you were overwhelmed by something beautiful, or delicious, or awe-inspiring? When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried actual tears and your belly hurt? If you can’t remember when, make it a priority STAT!
If tomorrow we die, beloved ones, let’s at least go out with joyful hearts.
With love,
Pastor Jessica