My wife and I have been trying to make healthier food choices. Part of this revolution in our life includes attempting to somewhat frequently use our new juicer. When I say juice, I’m not talking about some weak glass of sweetened, watered-down apple juice from Wal-Mart; I’m talking about some thick, potent, full of vitamins and nutrients juice straight from whole veggies and fruits.
The other day I decided since it had been a while since I had juiced, I better make some. It’s honestly a bit of a pain because you need to wash all the vegetables, chop off the major parts you don’t want to use (like stems), and then after the actual juicing is done comes the dreaded clean up. Yes, health does come with a cost, which for me is extra dishes. Nonetheless, on this day I decided to forge through with the process due to the wonderful benefits. In fact, I felt so much ambition that I decided to wash extra vegetables to use the following morning before church.
Juicing that day went great! And I had all my veggies and everything set up for the following morning so I could do a quick juicing before church without much effort. The following morning I awoke and began walking through my morning routine. By the time I was dressed and ready for the day, I was a little behind schedule to get to church on time. However, I decided to take a chance and, in the name of health, juice anyway.
I quickly put the freshly cleaned and dried juicer together and began tossing in my already cleaned vegetables. Today I would enjoy carrots, celery, and cilantro. After the whirring, grinding, and splattering I poured my fresh juice into my usual wine glass to enjoy. It’s important to drink the juice right away because the longer you wait more and more nutrients start to die.
When I picked up my glass to drink, I notice a small, thin thing on the edge of the glass; like a shiny sliver of an almond skin. I thought this a little strange, but figured it must have been from a carrot stem or something. I brushed it off onto the counter, raised my glass for cheers, and began sipping my glass of health wonder. As I neared the bottom of the glass I saw something interesting. What was sticking up in my juice? That doesn’t look normal. Are those two antennae?!
A bug!
Yes, you read that right. A bug was in my juice!
I spurt out what juice what left in my mouth like a geyser shooting into the sink. Who wants bug juice? I thought my health serum only consisted of carrots!
After I calmed myself and threw my bug in the trash, I cleaned up the juicer then rushed to church late. On my way I still felt the heebie jeebies of drinking juice with a big, fat bug in it.
Somehow my mind also began reflecting on life and how my juice mirrored it.
Sometimes in life we choose healthy things, like a glass of juice or confessing our sin or participating in community. However, even with our well intentioned efforts, like life, we are not perfect. We bring our own junk wherever we go, even into healthy things. Sometimes warnings exist; like the “carrot stem” on the edge of my glass that I later realized was a bug wing. Sometimes things just pop unexpectedly in the bottom of our glasses.
Nonetheless, those things don’t kill us or even necessarily hurt us. I had drank bug infiltrated juice and survived. I honestly have no idea how the bug arrived there. Had he been hiding in the juicer? Did he fly into my glass without my noticing? It really doesn’t matter; I survived. And more importantly, I learned.
I learned that perhaps I need to be more careful in what I’m doing, even if I’m behind schedule. I learned that I should look for warning signs in life. I learned that even if a healthy experience is tainted, it’s still healthy and contains some benefit and nutrition.
God is strange. Sometime I act like I can control him and get my way. I think sometimes he even allows me to carry on with such foolish thinking without correcting me for a while. After all, it’s my choice. Sometimes my choices bring me to realize that I’ve been living life with an unhealthy bug hiding in the bottom of a bunch of healthy stuff. As difficult as that is, it allows God to properly deal with my bugs as he reveals them. Cheers!
