Eating Your Veggies

No kid is born a vegetarian; I am firmly convinced of this. At some point in life, even if you like them all now, you could readily list which vegetables you hated most: broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus, green peppers, anything with chlorophyll. And so it was an entire generation felt justified when Pres. George H. W. Bush told the world that, as President of the United States of America, no one could make him eat broccoli.

Solomon must have had similar tastes. In Proverbs 15:17, he writes, "Better a small serving of vegetables with love than a fattened calf with hatred." (Clearly the wisest man ever to live enjoyed steak over greens -- and, as a Jew who couldn't eat blood, he ate his steak well done, just as God intended. May this be a model for us.) While it's easy to find this particular proverb amusing, look beyond the funny part to what Solomon is saying here. You could enjoy the best the world has to offer, but it if lacks love, it will still be the worst of the worst. But you can have even just a little of something not particularly enjoyable under normal circumstances, yet if it comes with love, it will be better than anything else the world has to offer.

Love is just that powerful -- and that important. It's a crucial ingredient in making life worthwhile, and without it, life is meaningless and hateful -- for God is love (1 John 4:8). Love takes hollow words and gives them meaning, empty actions and fills them with purpose (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). And so we are tasked with taking the love of God and showing it to other people through the way we live. And that is a powerful testimony.

After all, it seems love can even make you eat your veggies.