As Stale and Sour as the Carrot Salad
Recently
a major food chain had a problem in one of its cafeterias. The carrot
salad was sour. The food looked like it had been out all day and was as
tired as its servers standing smileless before the customers. The decision
was made to close the cafeteria for a few days and to fire all but a few
of the employees. The statement from the management was, "we tried
to retrain them, we just couldn't do anything with them." The reconditioned
cafeteria is pronounced a great success, the carrot salad wonderful, the
food fresh, the servers smiling. I kept thinking of management's phrase,
"we tried to retrain them." That is the discipline of the Christian
life; we are in the "retraining" process. The habits and standards
of our old way of living leave us sour, tired and often grim in the face
of the
world we serve. Some of us who would offer messages of fresh joy, offer
instead signals from attitudes stale and sour as carrot salads gone bad.
When Christ takes over a life, He "retrains" us unto joy, unto
freshness and unto accountability. Sometimes He must feel like that cafeteria
management whose employees couldn't be retrained. The good news is that,
for now at least, He is still patiently "retraining," that you
and I may, by His Grace, serve food fresh and well prepared as we offer
service with a smile.
Excerpt
from "Jeannette Clift George, From Center Stage"
