What, No Pickle?!!! Check out my latest blogpost

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Once upon a time, I made a very nice turkey burger for an individual whom shall remain nameless. (I checked: whom is correct!) Anywho, this was not your average burger. The bun was gourmet, the cheese was Gruyere, the onions were caramelized, the tomatoes and mustard were gentrified, and the meat was seasoned and grilled to a T (as in turkey!). Again, this was not your average burger. As I presented my work of art to it's recipient, I was self-congratulatory in advance. Voila! Until those words came: "What, no pickle?" I could not believe my ears. This burger had so much going for it, prepared with so much love and care, in itself, it was undeniably exquisite, but the beholder saw lack. He looked past the burger, and was looking for a pickle. What kind of thinking could this be? Sacre' bleu, (which I hope is French for just gosh darn it)!

But then, in life, don't we do that? We have this great thing here, this wonderful thing there, this delectable bite right here, but we're looking for the pickle. Not that there's anything wrong with pickles. If I had thought of it, a nice crisp slice of dill would have gone nicely with my masterpiece burger. But, the burger was pretty special standing on its own.

The bible has a lot to say about gratitude. It is pleasing to the Lord. In fact, He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3); He wants us to enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise (Psalm 100:3), and simply put, In all things, give thanks (1 Thess 5:18) And we have to put some effort into keeping this very essential faith muscle toned up. It is so easy to look at our life, our circumstances, one particular day, and look past all the great substance, condiments, dressing, and such, that we are blessed to receive, and dwell on that one element that is missing, that hasn't shown up yet, that would have been a nice addition. Some of us don't even enjoy the tasty burger, or refuse it, or discard it, for want of - the pickle. You have a great job, plenty of money, wonderful family and friends, carefree life, but you're most often in funk, because, gosh darn it, you're still single. Or, you got up, had a great workout by the beach, and a great day at work, nice leisurely expense account covered lunch, came home to your loving family and favorite shows on Netflix, but your salary is stuck in the mid six figures instead of high six figures, so life sucks. Dude, forget the pickle, look at that burger!

Some of us go through our entire lives lamenting the lack of our "pickle," whatever that may be. And what a shame that is! The old folks like to thank God just for waking them up in the morning, clothed and in their right mind. That sure is something to thank the Lord for! And think about it, how many times have you left half the pickle on the plate anyway? Make a habit of enjoying the burger and every thing that comes with it, and let that be enough. We love it when Burger King says "have it your way," but life doesn't always work that way. The tasty fact is, our Creator has a way about Him, that may not fit our exact specifications, but it satisfies every time, He'll show you where's the beef, you won't believe you ate the whole thing, and ba da bop ba ba, you'll be loving it!