Don't Spoil Your Appetite

My mother is an amazing cook.

Now I already know that some of you upon reading that statement immediately thought to yourself, “well of course he thinks that his mother is an amazing cook. Every child thinks that their mother is amazing cook.” We all tend to think that are our grandchildren are the best behaved , that our children are the moat talented, and that our spouses are the most romantic. And even if we don’t think those things, we will never, ever admit it.

But when I say that my mother is an amazing cook, that assessment is not simply based on the 52 years that I’ve been eating her cooking. It is based on the demands that are frequently made for her culinary creations. People are always asking (and have always asked) my mother to make them some dish, especially her cakes and pies. I have a German Chocolate cake in my freezer right now that my mother made almost a year ago. And I can assure you that whenever I take it out to eat a slice, it will be as moist and delicious as if she made it that day. There is a great cloud of witnesses that will all attest to the truth that my mother is amazing cook.

But even more amazing that eating her food is watching her prepare it The kitchen is her throne. And oh, how she reigns in that domain! When I was a little boy, I would come into the kitchen when we lived at 311 Grand Avenue in Freeport, New York to observe her process. I was mesmerized by her creativity, thoroughness and focus. Every dish, and especially every desert was a study in poetry. My favorite part of the process was when she applied the frosting to one of her cakes.

To be completely honest, my primary motivation for wanting to watch her work was so that I could get a few early swipes of whatever cake she hapenned to be making. I would wait until she turned her back and then take my index finger and swipe a generous chunk of frosting either out of the can or from a section of the cake and hoped that she would not notice. Most times she did notice, and one time I remember her saying to me with a sharp tone “stop that! You don’t want to spoil your appetite.”

I heard her. But I really wasn’t listening. The full weight of her counsel did not occur to me until many years later. What I didn’t know was that eating too much of certain foods too soon is counter productive to your long term enjoyment and satisfaction. Proverbs 25:16 puts it this way;

Do you like honey? Don’t eat too much, or it will make you sick!

Honey is good for you. But too much honey will spoil your appetite. Some cake is good for you. But too much cake is bad for you and will destroy your appetite. Why? Because the basic ingredient in both is sugar, which has extremely limited nutritional l value. If you eat too much of the wrong stuff, there is no room in your stomach for the right stuff!. Unwise, unplanned, and undisciplined indulgence of our appetites robs us enjoyment,

Every appetite that we have was given to us by God. The desire for food, water, sleep, recreation, and companionship are God given. Although these desires can become corrupted and perverted, we must understand that they come from God. God would not have given us these desires if he did not want them to be satisfied. But God has also provided us with clear instructions on how they should be satisfied. Most sin is us wanting the right thing at the wrong time, with the wrong person or in the wrong way. Improper indulgence mitigates, distort ultimately destroy those desires.

It’s always better to wait. It’s also harder. But the hard things are always the better things. Desert should always come after dinner.

Otherwise, it always spoils your appetite.