Smell The Bacon

A lot of people miss out on a lot in life, just by not taking the time to appreciate it. Me, for instance.

But I get better at it as time goes on. I get better at falling, knowingly in love, with life. And certain things just help me to succumb! As I take this BLT in hand, walking back from the catering truck where it was lovingly fried, sliced, spread and assembled, I can't help but lift the finished work up to my face, as I walk in the open air and sunshine of the parking lot, back to my office - and I breathe deep. And I breathe deep again. And oh, the smell of bacon is made flesh, within my brain - even before I take that first bacon-crunchy, tomato-sweet, mayo-tart lettuce-fresh bite! It's about visualization, and realization, followed by consummation - and only then is it truly possible: appreciation.

I could have eaten that sandwich by now, wolfed it all perfunctory - and it would have become part of me, sure. But because I have taken the time to know, love, and honor the bacon before I consume it, it doesn't simply become a part of me. It becomes a part of me forever.

Indeed, from a Christian perspective - God feeds on souls! God gorges Godself on our sweet, sour, salty, tart, piquant souls. God gobbles 'em up, takes them in - but in this process of celestial digestion we are not dissolved, but rather our minds and hearts and consciousnesses are swallowed whole! We not only remain whole - we are completed. Expanded. We are made one with God, and in God. This is the meaning of the Body of Christ. All of us together make up the body of Christ, at work and in motion in this world, taking action. Some of us are the hands that help and build. Some of us the eyes that look with love on others, without judgment. Some of us are the mouth, the voice that cries out at injustice! I myself am the naughty bits.

Anyway, as I deeply inhale the pungent aroma of this blessed bacon, I honor the pig whose death gave life to my lunch.