Oatmeal

I actually like to eat oatmeal!

When I share this information with people, I get some strange looks from them. Not only because I’ve just shared some incredibly mundane thought with them, but also when it comes to oatmeal, people tend to have very strong opinions about it. They can generally be lumped (no pun intended, well yes it was) into two categories. There are those who love oatmeal and cannot fathom how any person in their right mind could not love oatmeal. They eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They bathe in it. If it were possible, they would make clothing from oatmeal. Then there are those who hate oatmeal and cannot imagine how any normal person could eat something that can only be described as an adult version of white school paste that came in a little jar with a combination metal lid and plastic applicator.

Oatmeal haters are convinced that oatmeal lovers are the ones who used to eat the white school paste in kindergarten using the plastic applicator as a spoon. Of course, I’m not sure which camp you’re in when it comes to oatmeal, but I’ll fess up and tell you that I was in the group that hated oatmeal. My attitude about oatmeal began to change when a nurse suggested that I start to eat it for health reasons. On the ride home from the doctor’s office, I decided to treat oatmeal more as a medicine than a food. I eventually made it a part of my breakfast routine out of an obligation to my family. At first, eating oatmeal was analogous to taking bad tasting medicine. Picture a kid holding his or her nose and rushing to be done with the “orange or cherry” flavored goop, making faces, swallowing, and vowing never to do it again. I had that attitude at breakfast each morning. Then, I started to notice the more I ate it, the less offensive it was to my palate. In time, I found that I was developing an appetite for oatmeal instead of cold Chicago style pizza for breakfast. When I began to see positive results on the scale, as well as other tests, I liked eating it even more. So, as I said, I actually like to eat oatmeal.

Why am I sharing this silly story with you?

Well, it’s not really about my appetite for oatmeal or which side of the grocery aisle I’m on when it comes to this subject. It’s really about how the Holy Spirit changed my spiritual appetite, specifically my appetite for reading God’s Word. In the same way that I just couldn’t understand how anyone could eat oatmeal a.k.a. white school paste, I couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy reading the Bible. I knew I should read it out of Christian obligation, but anything beyond that was reserved for scholars and collars. I approached bible study more like medicine than like food, just like my oatmeal experience. And similar to that experience, I started noticing that the more I read and reflected upon what I read, the less boring it was. In time, I found that an appetite for God’s Word, by way of His Holy Spirit, was developing within me. I began to see His Words coming to life in my experiences. His Word was no longer bad tasting medicine, but sweet tasting food. I began to taste God’s goodness. It was Psalm 119:103 and Psalm 34:8 in living color. Now, I actually love to read the Bible!

When I share that information with people, I get some strange looks from them. That’s O.K. I just tell them it’s an acquired, ( I mean inspired) taste.

God changed my taste buds; He’ll gladly change yours too.

Grace to you.
Dave Paukner