In our faith sharing gathering this morning we talked about obstacles to our spiritual growth. I mentioned that although I knew better, I keep doing too many things at one time, and not taking the proper time for reading, reflection and exercise.
We wandered into the same area, slowing down and entering into life deeply, in our conversation with my therapist this afternoon. She had a good quote about taking life thickly. She meant the same thing I knew but did not practice, that is better to enter into life experiences deeply than have more and more experiences. I told her of how my grandson when he was first was learning to talk had a vocabulary of about 5 words. One of them was the word “more”. When we played a silly game together he would say “more”. At first I thought he meant to some more silly things. But I found out what he really meant is that he wanted me to repeat the same thing over again. So I did, and he would laugh and enjoy it just as much as the first time. So I would do it over and over again.
Her example was about eating a piece of chicken. She had been suffering from some indigestion so decided to chew her food thoroughly and eat slowly. It worked and she not only got better but she enjoyed the food more. She was telling her sister about a piece of chicken she had eaten that tasted so good. Her sister did not understand that the chicken had tasted so good since she had chewed it thickly. She said if she writes another book she will call it “Chewing Chicken Thickly.”
I have talked a lot about the increased sense of death I have felt since the death of my son. One of the benefits of experiencing the shadow of death is that it brings life more into focus and perspective. You realize it is not how much you do but how you do something. I remember a quote from a famous person that went something like this: “If you enter into an experience deeply you will find God.” I do not know about finding God but by entering deeply into life you not only experience death but more fully are filled with a sense of gratitude for life. So next time you eat chicken remember to chew thickly.
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