"Do not fall into the trap of believing that life and body are dependent on food and clothing." -- Jesus

Food is pretty important to me. Its importance is gauged, of course, by the spinning dial on the bathroom scales.

Oh, you know about that?

Clothing? Well, maybe not so much. But ever since Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves, we have worn suits, ties, and stuff for girls. Haven't bought a new suit in decades. Never been much of a fashion guy. Can't afford it.

Yes, well . . .

Ever had a Ruth Chris' steak? No? Their steaks are fried in butter, not grilled over an open fire. Tasty? You better believe it. You pay big bucks for one of those things. Not to speak of the bar tab. Although their $12.03 (2023) baked potato does tend to discourage me.

My wife Bonnie, is a fabulous cook. She loves to entertain. Yet whenever we sit down to eat, she always has something to say about what she had prepared; it could have been better if she had done this, or if she hadn't done that. Everybody else is gorging themselves while she is talking and wondering what the heck she is talking about.

As I said, she likes to entertain, but everyday meals tend to bore her. More than once we have had cold pizza for dinner, or leftovers eaten while standing over the kitchen sink. One of my favorites is a boiled egg with salt. Ok, so you've been there and done that, too. Mind you, I complain not. Hard to beat a boiled egg with salt.

My favorite restaurants are those with white linen table cloths and white linen napkins, crystal goblets (or something that looks like crystal), and flatware that didn't come from The Dollar Store. I can't stand to eat a meal, no matter how good it is, with a fork, you can bend with two fingers. I love the soft, cool music playing in the background, or better yet a live piano played by someone who doesn't add a million notes to the melody.

Show off.

Or maybe the sweet sounds of a live combo. Yeah, that's right! Give me a waiter who scrapes the crumbs off my table and doesn't ask for my ID when I order a bottle of Fume Blanc.

I guess I enjoy the restaurants with the jukebox, sawdust, and peanut shells on the floor, too. But God deliver me from karaoke. Why in the world someone would want to eat a meal in a place where they allow American Idol wannabees, whose voices are always a mix of George Burns and Kermit the Frog, amped up to rattle the windows, I don't know. These are nice people?

What's that? What did you say? Maybe I enjoy my Christian liberty a little too much? A glutton? A winebibber? Hmm. Where have I heard that before? Ahem. (sigh)

Yes. Well . . . maybe I do.

"It seems a pity that the world should throw away so many good things merely because they are unwholesome. I doubt that God has given us any refreshment which, taken in moderation, is unwholesome, except microbes. Yet there are people who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable, and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay this price for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is! It is like paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry."
-- Mark Twain

Still, too much of a good thing will . . . well, for one thing, it will make you broke!

Self-indulgence does other things, too. It makes you dependent on it. After just so much steak and Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape Hommage, you feel absolutely deprived if you are without it.

Maybe what's really sad is our dependence on consumptive living, and that if it is suddenly taken away, we are to be pitied. Our lives have been impacted adversely. How sad. How very sad.

Or is it? Maybe this kind of adversity is actually an open door to a new life of opportunity and blessing. Maybe it helps us to put things in a more constructive perspective. Maybe it builds strength and resiliency. Maybe it will give us something called, "character."

You got all the "character" you can need, you say?

No.

No, You don't.