What's on the Menue?

"Mom," Anna asked one day.  "Can I make a meal this weekend?"

That's the sort of question that does not take a whole lot of time to answer for most mothers I know.  The answer is clearly, "Yes."

Anna sat down and came up with a meal plan.  She had all the course laid out, from a Main Dish to the vegetable.  Then, she wrote it up very carefully and posted it on the refrigerator with grand ceremony, quite pleased with herself.

As I read the "Menue," I had to smile a bit.  Anna is a good speller in school, but somehow that didn't quite carry over to all of the items on her list.

I was still pretty pleased and happy with her effort.

It seems to me that when we are happy with a message, we are a lot less likely to pick holes in the style of the message's delivery or shoot the messenger.  When we don't like the message, a flame retardant suit is not sufficient to ward off the flames that follow.

I am reminded of the prophets in the days of the Old Testament.  They were given very hard prophecies for the people to hear, calls to repentance and for the people to turn to God.  The people often hated these communications and persecuted the prophets and even killed them in return.

This is human nature.

It shouldn't be that way.  When someone delivers a message and we find ourselves dissecting the poor grammar of the message, or the stain on the messenger's shirt, we need to ask ourselves what truth is in the message that is speaking to us.

Only with that attitude can we benefit from the message and learn from it.  Only then can we move beyond reading the "Menue" to eating the meal.