Off The Top

I bought a premade salad for lunch today. Nothing special about it, just a chef salad with cheese, egg, turkey and tomato on top. That’s how they make it, they fill the container with lettuce and then put a serving of shredded cheese in two corners, turkey and ham in two corners, tomato and egg in the middle. Then when you put the dressing on, all the good stuff is there on top, you don’t get to the four cups of lettuce till you eat your way through. A lot of foods come this way. Cake comes with frosting on top. Pancakes with syrup on top. Potato soup with sour cream and cheese on top. Then there are the sayings; “cream rises to the top”, “top dog” “top of the morning” “make it to the top” and “you want to be on top”. Good stuff is on the top. Good stuff rises to the top. I totally understand this. Don’t we all want to make it to the top? Be the best? And skimming the surface is okay a lot of times, especially when I’m cleaning my house. Of course, then I started thinking, which is dangerous. And I realized how much I miss when I focus on the surface. In the case of the salad, I miss the health benefits of the lettuce. In the cake, I miss the balance of the cake with the sugary frosting. And pancakes aren’t a good example because I love everything about pancakes. Potato soup, mix the sour cream and cheese into the soup? Much tastier. Being at the top means people are gunning for your spot too. And there is only room for one person to be the best and be at the top, and maybe it shouldn’t be me (most likely not). There are other areas I’m content to just eat the top off and let the rest go. I’m not proud of it either. I have some relationships that need work, and I’m content to just lick the frosting off and go on my way. Not invest what really should be invested. And when this is my relationship with Christ, it’s especially bad. Read the book of Genesis because it’s not terribly convicting of things I need to change in my life. Read the 23rd Psalms about how God will comfort me, not challenge me to step out and serve.
There’s also the opposite side though. There are people who don’t like frosting, they scrape it off for the cake. And some of us will eat pancakes with peanut butter smeared on them instead of syrup, rolled up like a burrito so the pancake is on top. There are also sayings that indicate the top is not always the best; “more than meets the eye”, “scratch the surface”, “beauty is only skin deep”, “dig deep” “ogres are like onions, they have layers”, and “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. My challenge to myself this week is to look for the areas where I have been skimming lately. Not going deep. I already know of several. Some spiritual, some just life. And try to make changes where I should and where I can. Eat more lettuce, less cheese and dressing. And probably going to make pancakes for dinner tonight.