The Spices of Life

I don’t consider myself regimented, or severe, or a stickler for perfection.  Certainly, I work hard to do things as best as I can, but I’d like to think I am willing to let things go and embrace imperfection as well, up to a point. 

But then there’s this:  The spice rack in my pantry holds all those little jars in alphabetical order.  While sometimes I struggle (does Cream of Tarter go by the “C” for cream or “T” for tarter? “R” or “P” for red pepper?), the organization pleases me (and Karl!).  Going to the grocery store here, then causes me a kind of frustration so deep and disturbing that it is hard to verbalize. An entire aisle in my local grocery is dedicated to spices – none of which are in any kind of order.  Chocolate sprinkles are next to the allspice, then may come the turmeric, then the cinnamon. No rhyme, no reason, and it changes every time I’m there. When Karl writes a spice down on the weekly shopping list, he always also writes an apology in the margin. He understands the effect this chaos has on my mental well-being.  This lack of civilized organization rankles me.  I grit my teeth.  I inwardly rage.

Thankfully we have a God who understand the lack of organization.  I mean, God is perfect and He desires perfection – holiness – from and for us.  I imagine that everything is ordered and organized in heaven.  If there’s a spice shelf, the jars are alphabetized. But, God’s also realistic, and He knows that our humanity is a real stumbling block.  That’s why Jesus came. He came to save us and suffer in our place.  He also came to offer us a glimpse at what is possible. Jesus’ death gave us eternity, and His life gives us a goal for living this life. But notice, we have no idea if He kept his closet tidy (oh yeah, during the time of his ministry He had no closet), we don’t know if He’d have rolled His eyes at jumbled grocery shelves. (No doubt He would have noticed, He spoke a lot about salt.)   What we do know is that He was single minded about loving and not ‘sweating the small stuff’.  I’m going to remember that.  When I am searching for cumin, I’m going to (try) to smile and say a prayer for the shelf stockers, and I’m going to remind myself about love and not getting caught up with the unimportant.