Today, I have one thing to do—drive from point A to point B. The distance between is less than 500 miles. The weather is good, and the traffic is light this Sunday before Christmas. Point A is Cushing, Oklahoma, where we caught up with some good friends for a couple of nights. Point B is Tucumcari, New Mexico, where we will get a room for the night. If I were at home, I would have a much longer to-do list that would include lots of last-minute doing—shopping, baking cookies, cleaning, and wondering if I should have bought gifts. But we decided to take a road trip instead, so there is no list.
As we drive, I see hawk after hawk perched on the bare branches of trees or sitting on power poles, watching for signs of life in the dried grasses that fill the bar ditches along the road. They don’t have a long list of things to do either, just one priority—get something to eat.
A couple of years ago, we spent Christmas in Louisiana. On Christmas Eve, we visited some friends who were making a large pot of gumbo. As I watched the host add a little of “dis” and“dat” to the gumbo, his wife told me how the Roux she had been cooking all day boiled over, and she was worried that there wasn’t enough for the gumbo. The Roux is essential. It’s the essence. Without it, there can be no gumbo. As it turned out, there was enough, and it was unanimous—the gumbo was perfect.
Today, as eighteen-wheelers passed by, and my mind wandered from hawks to Christmas to the Roux, I realized that life is full of analogies that reveal simple truths that leave me in awe. My idea of what is essential isn’t that much different from the hawk’s. The gifts of nature sustain us both. I just have a few more distractions, or do I? I suppose the hawk could easily get distracted by the cars and big trucks passing by and I do not doubt that he is keenly aware of all that is going on around him, but he only has one priority, one thing to do.
If I could choose only one thing to prioritize, what would it be? I think it would be to love—myself, life, and every person, place, and thing, and I have been blessed to share this time on earth alongside. Yes, I would make a giant pot of gumbo with all that is good and offer you a cup.
Let all that you do be done in love I Corinthians 16:14
In all the busyness of the holidays, the presents, the celebrations, and the festive delicacies, there lives an essence of love. Like the roux in the gumbo, it’s essential.
Fill My Cup