The rich aroma of cooked venison and freshly baked bread penetrated the air and softened the aging taste buds of the patriarch, Isaac. Despite the fact that his son Jacob was in the process of stealing the parental blessing from his twin brother Esau, Isaac nevertheless received the food and drink from Jacob with joy. He afterward kissed his son and raised his hands to bless this conniving Jacob. Ever since the dawn of creation, the God-given gift of taste has elicited from us a very natural desire-that of sustaining our physical bodies with food and drink. The ability to taste has added to the satisfaction and joy which comes through eating and drinking. Even now my taste buds begin to water when I think of:
- A plump baked apple with large dabs of whipped cream;
- Sugar peas cooked with freshly-dug potatoes;
- ‘Love Feast Soup’ (A taste all of its own!);
- Meadow Tea (Mother would ask us to bring some along when we brought the cows in from pasture, and its minty aroma would fill the kitchen!);
- Warm gingerbread with a glass of milk before bedtime; -Roast beef, mashed potatoes, corn and applesauce (My hearty Pennsylvania Dutch appetite simply doesn’t tire of this combination!);
- A dish of oatmeal on a chill October morning;
- Freshly-plucked wild raspberries;
- Communion Bread (I not only enjoy the presence of the Living Christ as I carefully break the bread into five pieces, but I also love its savory richness!);
- Warm mince pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream;
- Gingerbread Men (I can’t think of these without fondly remembering my parental grandmother and how she would make a gingerbread man for each grandchild at Christmastime!);
- Blueberry muffins (despite the crumbs!);
- Fresh-from-the-oven homemade bread, topped with spoonsful of strawberry jam;
- A piece of chilled watermelon (How refreshing after a day’s work in the sun!);
- Early-spring dandelion, cooked with a sweet-sour bacon dressing (A delicacy in my book!);
Let’s see what else; Omelet…potato soup…grape juice. . .fresh peaches. . .chocolate candy…pumpkin pie. . .homemade noodles. . .sweet cider. . .clam chowder. . .apple pie. . .the list has no end! While we need to be careful not to have our watering taste buds lead us into excess, God does seemingly give us…”all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).