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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Of pigeons and menus and the meaning of the words of Jesus

This morning Bro. Juniper was mulling over how sometimes he reads and thinks the scriptures at the expense of living them when Bro. Theo entered the dining room, in his hands he was holding one of Abbot Eastley's homing pigeons, a rather beautiful slate blue one, and as the pigeon cooed contentedly, he offered this story:

I’m reminded of this very hungry man seated in a nice restaurant and is handed a menu and opens it and his eyes read the descriptions of entree after entree and he licks his lips and the waiter returns and of course he waves him away with, “just a few more minutes” and back to the menu and memories of long forgotten tastes are stirred up when he slowly reads “slices of aromatic roast loin of lamb in a rosemary glaze, served with well-crusted potato Anna” and “just a few more minutes” again he waves before returning to the delights, “fillet of salmon sauteed in a lobster-braised leek cream sauce” and no memories are stirred for never had he tasted such a treat, but wait, “slices of roast pheasant breast filled with mince of mushrooms, leeks and carrots” and, “oh please, give me just a few more minutes.” And the waiter turns and nods to another waiter, and he nods back and retires to the kitchen to dismiss the chef and staff for the evening, for no more meals need be served, and the chef peeks out the door and raises his eyebrow and asks, “What about the gentleman at that table?” And the waiter smiles and replies, “The menu … he’s been served the menu.”

1 comment:

Lucy said...

I so often whish it was enough just to travel hopefully; so much of the pleasure of a meal or a holiday or whatever is in the planning and anticipation, and if I could suffice on that with food I would be thin and elegant to boot... I know this is not really apposite to your analogy, or I don't really see that it is...