Chicken McNuggets

Ecclesiastes 18-20 The Message
After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live.

I tried to go six month's without any fast food; as of this week I completely gave into McDonalds. I almost made it half way which would have been on June 22nd. I felt a great sense of anticipation at the window waiting for my McDouble and Six Piece Chicken McNugget meal. I pulled out of the drive-thru ready to tear open the bag in order to get to my highly saturated, mostly fried, loaded with sodium and high fructose corn syrup food when something caught my eye. It was a feral cat with a white coat and golden honey yellow stripes. The cat was quite slim and you could tell from its fur that it had seen better days. Before I go on I want to let everyone know that I do not make it a habit to feed cats, especially feral cats because feral cats are extremely over populated where I live.

Looking at this cat I felt very sad, it was hiding under a car and appeared to not have eaten in quite some time. My friends know I am not by any means partial to animals. When I was younger I was responsible for about 7 animals and the whole experience really turned me off. That being said, the act of me showing compassion for an animal would require dire circumstances on the part of the animal. So I slowed my car opened the door and parted with one of my Chicken McNuggets. Like a parent I wanted to see satisfaction in the cat; I guess I thought it would make me feel better. But the cat didn't do anything. I then decided to drive around thinking it might be scared of me. As I pulled around I saw the oddest thing; rather than just accepting my gift, the cat was attempting to "kill" the Chicken McNugget before eating it. At least that is what is seemed like; I have seen some cat fights in the past and even witnessed cat hunting for field mice so I vaguely remembered what it looked like. The point is that this cat took what was a gift ready for the taking and tried to kill it before eating it.

Not idly does a person part with tiny fried golden morsels from Mc Donald's. Each one crunches perfectly, is juicy with just the right amount of salt and parting with one of these is no small task especially when I only had a six pack. Maybe because the cat was wild and had never been taken care of was its reason for trying to kill its chicken nugget before eating it. Perhaps this cat has had to kill for all of its meals so it did not know how to eat the already cooked food much like in movies when orphans are provided a good meal for the first time.

As silly as this may seem, this got me thinking about God and us. God bestows upon us so many gifts and yet our carnal nature leads us to not accept these gifts; at times trying to kill them before we consume the gifts He's given us. Think about it; our bodies are a gift, our jobs are a gift, our hoopty cars are gifts, even the strong performers we have at work are gifts from God. Have we sought his direction for how to use these gifts? I am sure that if I took the cat home (I kind of wished I could) and fed it chicken nuggets regulary it would become accustomed to how to eat them; the skepticism would leave, and the cat would be able to enjoy filling food without trying to kill it first.

When I think about ways that we misuse the gifts God gives us I think of women that use their bodies as a source of validation rather than God. I also think of men who hate their jobs and go to work work each day with a quiet resentment not seeing beyond the matierial to the spiritual reasons for being there. In addition, I think about the people we managers employ, do we work them to the bone until they have little more to give, do we pay them well, do we offer a sense of hope for them? What would change about their performance if they could answer yes to the last two questions?

Eventually the cat realized that I had given it food accpetable for eating; as a result, it was satiated and I knew my sacrifice had not been in vain. My fear is that we will not realize the gifts God has given us and in turn will miss the fulfillment they bring. We might even someday reach a place where we think God is not helping us. Rick Warren related in Purpose Driven Life that worship is like a mother making a meal for her son. The son is grateful for the good food and the mother is grateful for the fact the the son is nourished and is thankful for the meal. God takes great joy in our appreciation, utilization, and happiness resulting from His gifts. What are you missing about the gifts in your life?

Go ahead, I dare you, LIGHT THE DARK