Taste and See.

I am an educated woman; I have two masters degrees and possibly a PhD (if I can ever figure out how to find the correct person to address my application to instead of being stuck in phone-hold hell). I have taught college for several years and traveled the world. However, I have learned more from being a mother and watching a one year old eat hay than from all the multitude of books and articles I have ever read. Let me explain this hay eating thing.

My kids and I love to go to parks and various nature centers in our community. Frankly, this is even what we do when we can manage to go on our rare mini vacations. It’s free, healthy, fun, and free (on a single mom budget this is really important). So, on a lovely fall afternoon, we packed the car with snacks, strollers, and other paraphernalia required for traveling with this clown crew and headed to one of our favorite haunts: a nature center with a living 1800s farm If you go at the right time of day, you can help feed the animals, watch the farmers prepare meals in the kitchen, and even run the little forge.

Usually due to our failed attempts at leaving the house on time, we miss the animal feeding time. Fortunately for us, cows are messy eaters and hay can be easily found all around the outer perimeter of the cow pen. This is perfect; we can not do any harm to the farmhouse, forge or animals and we get to enjoy the trails and feed the cow by picking up the dropped hay and holding it out for Penny, the cow, to eat.

Before I go on, I need to give you two bits of information that are key to understanding this story. First of all, Penny loves hay in a seemingly deranged sort of way. I have never seen a cow dance or gallop or even smile, but this one does. This crazy bovine knows that when she sees kids bend down around her pen and reach in, she is getting the mother load: hay, hay and more hay. This cow will gallop the length of the pen to arrive at a screeching halt, panting and grinning in a really disturbing blue tongued bovine way, and dance. Yes, I do mean dance. She will dance until the children stick a fistful of dirty hay in her slobbery mouth at which time she will look like she has just achieved the seventh heaven realm of cow nirvana. It looks orgasmic. Penny does not just do this once, but for hours, over and over again, until either the children fall down from shear exhaustion, the sun sets, or the hay runs out--which ever comes first.

Second important bit of information here is that my then one year old has always loved food with a gusto matched only by the most avid gourmet. It is actually pretty incredible. I think it is a gift inherited from my father, this love of food. She will look at an unfamiliar food and you can just see the saliva forming in anticipation of the truly delectable result of tasting something new. Never was there a dish too daunting in its appearance or scent for Sophia. She is willing to try anything. Most interestingly, she also communicates her love of food to others. She is one of those rare individuals who could eat aspic of poached chicken guts and make it look good. Just looking at her eating will make you reevaluate what you thought of putrefied shark (a delicacy in Norway).

Combine this orgasmic cow and a one year old with an adventurous palate and what do you get? A hay eating baby. I saw this unfold before my eyes. It was incredible. As a long time teacher, I have watched this process take place many times before but never found it quite so entertaining. I watched as Sophia picked up handful of hay and glanced over at the overexcited cow. She looked back at the hay and then again at the cow. I saw the wheels begin to grind to life as her little mind processed the cows exuberant reaction to eating the hay. I watched as a light bulb turned on and as the realization came to life that if the cow was enjoying this snack so much, why shouldn’t she? Without a thought to texture or appearance, without a care for familiarity, she proceeded to munch on her handful of hay. I guess the texture was a little off putting, but nothing worthwhile comes without effort, so on she munched as the rest of us watched in awe.

I did learn something that day. I discovered why so many of us adults are limited in our ability to enjoy the world around us and the God who loves us. You see we need an adventurous palate to taste and see that the Lord is good. We train our palates to enjoy the familiar and easy things in life, forgoing the deeper pleasures that require a little daring faith on our part. Little children on the other hand have yet to be trained food or life snobs, thumbing their nose at a handful of hay. This is why Jesus valued children and their open enfettered faith so much: it has yet to be encumbered by the limitations this world tends to place on individuals. We are meant to do and live so much more richly than many of us believe or allow ourselves to. We start out with zeal and enthusiasm only to settle for the first comfortable table set before us. We become so familiar and comfortable with it that anything outside of that seems odd, frightening, impossible, and meant to be avoided. If our own mind does not manage to set limits on the life we live, those around us do: “you can not do that, you have five kid,” “that is impossible, you already do enough,” “taking care of your family is more than sufficient.” Limits, negativity, pessimism, fear, and, ultimately, doubt are the enemies of a life well lived. I could live a comfortable little life raising my kids, doing for those around me, teaching my classes. It is familiar, comfortable and, frankly, easy. But I know and see that there is a pile of hay waiting to be tackled, a life so amazing I cannot even picture it. I want to live the life I was meant for, taste the flavors that were created and melded to fit my palate. I refuse to settle any longer. I will gladly grab hold of the example of a one year old and set out on a new adventure. I hope you join me as we embrace the next chapter of God’s plan for us, shedding fear and doubt. I will no longer settle for comfortable when spectacular is just around the corner.