Our Spiritual Tastebuds
“Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” - Psalm 34:8
I’d been craving Mexican food all day. At last, it was dinner time and I heated olive oil until it dimpled in the pan, chopped an onion, then tossed it into the skillet with some minced garlic, which instantly began to sizzle. I leaned in to take a whiff. There was only one problem. Instead of the sharp and savory aroma of garlic and onions, all I could smell was clean, bland air.
I love to cook and usually enjoy every bit of ritual that accompanies a recipe, but a recent bout with COVID has left me going on a week with no ability to taste or smell. This has dampened my passion for preparing food. I have no desire to cook or eat anymore, but I still have a family to feed and obviously, I have to keep myself alive, so… food there must be.
I stared at my skillet, and the only thing I could taste was bitterness as I realized that my extra step – sauteeing onions and garlic for extra flavor – was completely lost on me. Why bother? Why not just brown some meat, throw it in some tortillas and call it good? Why even add salt? Why go through the motions if I’m not going to get anything from them?
It didn’t take me long to come to a conclusion. Sure, I can’t taste anything I cook, but I know that onions and garlic make enchiladas good. Cheese makes enchiladas good. Chopped cilantro makes enchiladas really good. It’s almost impossible for me to not add those things, because I want to make the best possible recipe I can. My taste buds won’t know the difference, but my family will, and in my head I’ll know I did the best job I could.
I’ve often felt about certain aspects of the Christian life the same way I did about the enchiladas I couldn’t taste. Reading my Bible and praying are both things that often don’t do much for me in the moment. They don’t allow me to cross something off a to-do list, or bring me closer to a tangible goal. But as I grated cheese over my enchiladas, I mused that it’s really the same thing. Reading the Bible makes life good. Praying makes life good. Spending time with Jesus makes life really good. “Good” is a simplified way of putting it: those things are what make life worthwhile at all, and growing a relationship with Jesus is what fills our life with richness.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” Here’s the thing. Some days, our spiritual taste buds might not be working. But its important we don’t stop tasting anyway. Even when prayer and devotions are not enjoyable, or not instantly meaningful, they still nourish us. And they still taste worlds better than any other book, movie, or social media feed we could be consuming – we just might not know it right away. When we struggle to focus, or feel rushed, we still need to take time to feed our souls. The taste will come.