Metaphorical Eating Utensils

젓가락. Or, as we English speakers say, chopsticks.

A brain-involving way to eat your meals. Fun for the whole family.

As an American in America, when one can use chopsticks well, one's friends and family can be slightly impressed. As an American in Korea, when one can use chopsticks well, one's friends, coworkers, students, and random citizens are EXTREMELY impressed and awed. This can then become a topic of conversation.

Yes, chopsticks are great. They make you slow down when you eat. They make you work for your food. They make you concentrate on what you are picking up and shoveling into your mouth. I am ever so thankful that my dad taught me how to use chopsticks at a young age. I can now be the cool foreigner who not only knows how to (usually) skillfully use chopsticks, but is better at it than some Koreans. This fact may or may not make me a bit too pleased with myself at times.

Yesterday, it was the foreign teachers' turn to make Sabbath lunch. Haystacks was the dish of choice. If any of you ever thought it was expensive to make haystacks in America, please come to Korea, buy haystack ingredients, and then tell me if you still think it's expensive in America. After I did all the chopping and most of the preparing (with a little help from a couple of ladies at the church), all things were ready! The church service ended, the people crowded, plates were loaded, and taste buds and stomachs were satisfied. After everyone went through line, we servers got to finally make our own haystacks, and oh the joy that filled my soul as my eyes feasted on the same thing my mouth was about to. However, the only utensils we have at the church are soup spoons and, you guessed it, chopsticks. I gave myself a challenge and gleefully accepted it. I announced to those at my table, "I'm going to eat everything on my plate, using only chopsticks." And . . . I did.

So, you might be wondering, Where in the world is she going with this? Well, this was kind of a long back story to the short thought I wanted to write about. Partially, I was very excited about eating haystacks (even though in the U.S. I continually voiced my despise of them) and partially, I just wanted to let everyone know that I ate an entire haystack (piled quite high) with just chopsticks - every last grain of rice, every last bean, every slice of black olive.

Chopsticks can teach us some life lessons, I've learned.
Chopsticks can't be used alone. If you want to get the job done right, you have to have a set of chopsticks. As people, Christians more specifically. we sometimes try to do everything alone. We don't like to ask people for help or we think we can do it best if we just do it ourselves. God gave us other people in this world so that we DON'T have to do it all alone. Working alone can bring you some results, but with the support and help of others, so much more can be accomplished.

To be used to their fullest potential, chopsticks must also be in the hand of a master. When they are not being used by someone who knows how to use them best, a simple meal can turn into a frustrating, and sometimes embarrassing, dilemma. We need to let ourselves be used by the hands of our Master. He knows the best way in which we can use our lives to their fullest potentials. If we allow ourselves to be guided by Him, every situation becomes better. Chopsticks don't choose where to go or what food to pick up - they depend on the master's decisions. They are tools. Unlike chopsticks, we do have decision making powers. However, we are His tools through which He can do amazing things, if we allow Him to. God's way is the best way. We end up accomplishing so many more things than we could have ever imagined. If we just trust His decisions, His guidance, His advice, life becomes clearer and more purpose filled.

Chopsticks are magnificent. They may have differences from country to country, but they all have the same purpose. Like chopsticks, we as Christians differ from city to city, state to state, nation to nation. However, we also have the same goals - doing God's work, fulfilling His purpose in our lives, working together to show Him to others. Chopstick Christians - it has a nice ring to it. Now bring on the bibimbap!