In
1841, the first State Fair in the United States preceded
Abraham Lincoln, and evolved into a part of Americana.
The New York State Fair, held in Syracuse, brought together
a competitive exhibition of livestock, a display of farm
produce, handicrafts, baked goods, jams and jellies and
more from citizens across the state. Later, state fairs
grew in popularity all over the country and soon included
amusements and consumable foods.
We
now recognize an entire genre of junk food called "Fair
Food" or more commonly, "something on a stick."
Usually equated with convenience and delectable artery-clogging
concoctions, the stick itself points the way to our approach
to spiritual life.
Common
lore tells us there are at least 25 varieties of food-on-a-
stick featured at state fairs. These include alligator,
deep fried candy bars and the perennial favorite, corn
dogs. The decadent edibles are delivered on a piece of
wood (which may be healthier than the food it impales)
and food-on-a-stick continues to grow in popularity! Ahhh
... just the way we like it. Easy to eat, cheap, tasty
and bad for us.
Let's
face it, we've moved from savoring a slow, home cooked
meal, resulting from hours of thought and preparation,
to eating food on a stick, as we walk through life and
watch the parade go by. In many ways, we prefer our spiritual
truth served to us in the same fashion — convenient,
expedient, simple to grasp and with no effort or thought
involved.
The next time you go to the State
Fair, watch some spiritual principals cooking
before your eyes and under your nose as you indulge and
bulge with handheld food:
Corn Dogs...
I'll take a corn-dog portion of personal growth, to
go, please. After I chomp into the crust of my self doubt,
I find the meat of who I am hidden beneath the mealy,
coarse exterior. I continue to make my way, bite after
bite until I reach the core — the stick. My spiritual
stick reinforces me all the time, holding up the important
parts of myself, supporting me and providing what I need.
Though this spiritual stick seems like the insignificant
part of the meal, I quickly find that life's pretty messy
without it.
Cotton
Candy...
That spun sugar, pink and cheery like a baby's cheeks,
tickles your nose when you get close enough to lap it
up. The sweetness in our lives shows up as laughter and
kindness while ironically wrapped around a fragile core.
Just as we find joy in the process of peeling off the
colored layers from the paper stick, we reach our happiness
when we peel away the layers of our own exteriors a little
at a time, savoring each experience. Many of us allow
happiness in our lives for a brief, melt-in-your-mouth
moment. We tend to tightly grasp that which we believe
will bring us peace, only to watch it dissolve. We learn
that the brace of our strength supports the ecstasy of
who we are and, unlike the solid pine stick of our spiritual
base, our self-esteem, at its core, must be carefully
handled for it to withstand the swirl of life circumstances
which surround it.
Corn
on the Cob... Lined neatly in a compact grid of
rows and columns, the almost mathematical ear of corn
reminds us of the facets of everyday life supported by
our spiritual stick. This treat is not cooked around the
stick like the corn dog or cotton candy. Without a stick,
an ear of corn is just an ear of corn. But when you pound
a stick into one end of the corn, it grows into a spiritual
field of understanding. Each kernel, unique in shape and
symmetry, plump with buttery tenderness, bursts with the
flavor of your encapsulated life experiences. Look at
each small rectangle and imagine those as milestones of
spiritual growth.
You
can't live as a complete ear of corn without those exact
experiences in that divine order, to make you whole. And
in some respects, you won't savor the fullness of life
unless you allow spiritual truth to enter into your beliefs.
The spiritual stick, proverbially pounded into us as repeated
lessons in life, nonetheless, makes its way into our soul
and brings us to a full understanding of our truth. Whether
you neatly nibble one row at a time in horizontal fashion,
or take huge bites out of your experiences, be sure to
consume life as you walk through it.
When
we search for the many flavors life offers...
we realize the pillar of all the good around us is within
our grasp. Whether it's a pine stick, a paper cone or
a tongue-depressor popsicle stick, it's all right here,
in our hands. All the good you could ever imagine, faces
you like rows of booths at the fair and all you need do
is walk up, pay for your experiences with your trust,
and you receive a perfectly sized portion. The trick is
to keep moving through the carnival of life and when the
old ways no longer serve what you need, dispose of those
exhausted thought patterns, and be willing to try a new
stick.
©2007
Marlene Buffa
Taking
a quiet sideways glance at life, Marlene offers insight
through her words from experiences. . A student of new-thought
teachings, Marlene finds practical spirituality around
every corner and seeks wisdom through observation of life's
inter-relationships.
Sometimes playful, sometimes poignant, always thought-provoking,
her writing inspires readers in meaningful ways.
VISIT MARLENE'S WEBSITE TODAY: www.WordsOfMind.com
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