FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(02/28/2010)
McDELIGHT
Cindy
Hong
How one restaurant
chain can bring so much pleasure and delight to my life remains unexplainable.
Even before the earliest memories took root, I was told I always got thirsty
when the golden arches came into view. Only an orange drink from there
could quench the thirst. Several years later, we had a summer reading
club at church. I read so many books just for the reward—a trip to see
Ronald. Many more years later, I was slightly apprehensive about going
to Taiwan to learn Mandarin. Until I found out that the relatives I stayed
with lived just around the corner from McDonald's. Sipping their iced
coffee brought hours of delight, their green tea ice cream swirled with
bits of red bean paste awakening my Chinese taste buds, their creamy corn
soup hitting the spot in the winter months. In between the food, I did
learn some Mandarin there, memorizing the menu, ordering in Chinese, meeting
up with people to exchange English for Chinese. In high school, it was
a dream come true when the parents gave the green light to work at McDonald's.
I couldn't wait to flip burgers and baptize fries in the hot oil. Instead
I got hired to work the register. After manning the register at the family
restaurant, piece of cake, right? Not quite. I had to relearn so many
things. I kept getting talked to by the manager, needing to correct this
and redo that. Even getting drinks, something that seemed so basic, I
had to relearn the McDonald's way. How to make change, how to lay the
ice scooper, how to bag orders, all these had to be unlearned and relearned.
After so many corrections, the pleasure and delight from McDonald's were
losing their grip in my life. It would've been easier to work at McDonald's
without any restaurant background. The habits I had didn't transfer over,
thus the need to unlearn and relearn. But that seems to be the opportunity
the Lent season provides for us. We may have to unlearn some bad habits
with God and this is the time to do it. This is also the occasion to learn
some new ways of being together with God—unlearning sin patterns,
relearning new rhythms of walking together, renewing our delight and pleasure
in Jesus Christ.
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