“Eat your peas and carrots,” turned out to be a big order for one of our daughters.
Solid food, that big step of introducing all manner of foreign texture and flavor into a baby’s mouth was met by hilarious expressions. The eye-watering, mouth-contorting, forehead-puckering, “what have you done to me?” ended with an all-out baby body-shudder.
Mouth-watering T-Bone steak or crispy fried chicken, real solid food, takes some getting used to. It requires leading up to it, and swallow-training, before full enjoyment can be appreciated. Most of us have arrived there just fine. I certainly have.
But now peas…, well, from the first moment one of those flying, buzzing, green mushed spoonfuls took to the sky with its airplane loop-de-loops, and then landed in our middle daughter’s mouth, we knew. This would take some time. And many changes of clothing and some hosing off.
Heidi most emphatically detested peas. They were a suspicious color, squishy, and made her shiver. From head to toe.
Back in the day, when my husband and I parented, we looked at food differently than many parents today. There was a certain righteous indignation about eating or not eating everything on our plates. Imaginary sad and starving children guilted us from between the mashed potatoes and green beans.
Plus, back in the day, an unwillingness to try something new flirted with rudeness. Downing whatever was placed before someone included a bit of pride. Bravura and grit was on display.
“Don’t be a wuss,” Heidi’s big sister, with the pea-cleaned plate, mocked.
Food fights, from parental to offspring, were real. And the war to get peas into Heidi became epic in proportion, the ongoing conflict to keep them there even greater. And greener. Ick.
The joy of peas had ceased to exist for all of us, but on the occasional pea-day, after her sisters had been excused, she sat alone until her nemesis were all gone. Three little measly-peasely’s.
Many days it became a battle of the wills as she sat stoically and quietly determined. The longer she sat, the more those three solitary peas seemed to have a mind of their own. We found those little gems in all corners of the kitchen. Their challenge bordered on mutiny.
And finally she would raise her little hands as if in praise, and swivel her wrists proudly to proclaim, “that nasty stuff is gone!” We clapped and cheered. We danced around the table. We made raucous noise and lifted her high on her daddy’s shoulders in a pea-happy parade.
But all the hoopla could not convince her that those little round balls tasted good.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14 ESV)
When the author of Hebrews wrote the book, the Jewish Christians to whom it was written were on a diet of milk.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. (Hebrews 5:12-13 ESV)
Persecution and mistreatment had been part of the Jewish Christians’ lives as Jesus followers. Although they were commended for their endurance and compassion, the audience of Hebrews needed some convincing, prodding them toward deeper spiritual maturity.
The call for discernment in our society today is just as needed as it was then. Spiritual apathy and anemia, is rampant, as if the spoon is too heavy to dig in and lift. As if the rewards of knowing Jesus does not value the time or effort it takes to chew on His Word.
Spiritual maturity requires spiritual development. The writer of Hebrews encourages the believer to move past elementary truths of the gospel and push deeper.
He calls believers to sink their teeth into some solid food. Like us, they needed to be trained by what God had placed in His Word.
Many of those listening to the author were happy with a diet of milk when they needed steak.
So how can we apply ourselves to the task of being trained by the Word of God?
- By constant and consistent practice. Make God’s Word a daily habit.
- By putting in the right food. What we ingest aids or stunts growth.
- By training. It takes effort and discipline to nourish ourselves spiritually.
Digging deeper into God’s Word is essential to Christian growth and development. It shows in our practical actions and decisions. Our attitudes and dealings with others displays it. A mind and heart feasting on God’s Word is equipped to distinguish between good and evil.Digging deeper into God’s Word is essential to Christian growth and development. Share on X
And who of us would ever want to go back to the little cans of mushed peas and carrots after we have tasted a good steak?
A day came when I began to taste the sweet flavor of victory. Heidi had finished her peas with the rest of the family. Her plate was clean.
“Heidi,” I exclaimed, “You ate your peas!”
She smiled up at me. Her eyes shone.
“Good for you!” I praised. And with a hug I told her to go and play with her sisters.
As we learn to develop a taste for solid food, there may be some hiccups along the way. There may be failures and defeats.
I stacked the plates and lifted them from the table to take to the sink. Underneath Heidi’s plate, three flat green smushed pea-disks hid like miniature flattened green flying saucers.
Sometimes we just have to take a deep breath and reset. But it is always well worth the effort.
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