by Roxanne -

Babette’s Feast

Photo Babette's Feast

Babette’s Feast (same name as the film) came about when I and two friends decided to prepare an autumn feast. One of us (not me;-))lived in a large, old, Victorian home in Hyde Park, Chicago.

We invited family and friends. I remember that my brother and his kids were visiting Chicago and joined us. We created a menu of autumn foods. Everyone was asked to bring one ingredient. No one knew what their ingredient would be used for.

When everyone arrived, guests were asked to help chop, slice, and prepare the food. People who had never met found themselves sharing a cutting board and cooking together. Apples were peeled. Pies were assembled. Chickens and vegetables were roasted with garlic, lemons and herbs. Rolls were baked.

Layers and layers of linens draped the table. Squashes, pumpkins, and if I recall, wheat, candles and bread decorated the center of the table. We even found Limoges china in a hidden cabinet in the dining room! We used it. Cloth napkins and wine glasses were carefully placed.

We all gathered. Candles were lit. Wine was poured. Thanksgiving was offered. Food was shared. Incense was burned. Cello, voice and piano entertained everyone afterward. It was an amazing dinner. An amazing evening.

Photo Babette's Feast

Over the years I continued to plan Babette’s Feasts. I have organized dozens of Babette’s Feasts with many diverse groups of people. The menu has been completely different each time. Seasonal and local food is used whenever possible.

People come, prepare, share a meal, celebrate and are changed. Many experience the healing of being with a healthy community for the first time in their lives. It is always a powerful experience.

It is lavish. It is extravagant. It is elegant. It is simple. It is not expensive. But it is eucharist, thanksgiving, hospitality experienced in a very profound way. It nourishes the body, refreshes the spirit and renews the soul. God is made present and She is smiling!

Photo Red Couch Recipes

Some of the best ways to get the feeling of Babette’s Feast is to watch the movies: Babette’s Feast, Chocolate, Amelie or Like Water for Chocolate. Some books that are fun and uplifting to read along the same line are The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister and the classic, Like Water for Chocolate.

by Roxanne -

Come to the Feast!

Jesus’ image for the Kingdom, salvation or healing and wholeness is most often a wedding banquet, a dinner or a feast. Life can be a feast – if we enter in.

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus moves from one dinner, one feast, to another. The gospel of Luke is a series of dinners, feasts and banquets. Ask yourself “Why?”

Entering into the feast is not about creating a life of comfort. Rather it is about entering more deeply into life and allowing it to wash over us. This is a risk. Life is a risk. God took this same risk in creating a world with free will, a world free to be and to choose. We, in God’s image, must also take this risk.

In the gospels, the authors have Jesus using the Greek term metanoia. Originally this was translated as “repent.” But the modern meaning of this word means we miss the original meaning. Metanoia means “change your mind” or “see reality differently.” Jesus’ concern was not that we would do something wrong or “sin.” Rather his concern is that we would view life wrongly and miss the feast.

Jesus wanted us to enter into the feast – the feast of life, the feast of the world. All are invited. Think of the movie Harry Potter and the feasts at Hogwarts. This is a marvelous image of a feast! Everyone gathers. There are untold delights to sample, savor and explore. There is abundance – enough for all. Conversations happen. Thoughts and feelings are shared.

In Jesus’ banquets we come to be served and to serve. Serving is how we are re-oriented outward or healed. Healthy relationships must be mutual.

All have a place at the table. Can you change your mind? Can you see the enchanted feast of your life?

You may also like Babette’s Feast, Movie “Waitress” It’s All in the Pie, You’re Invited!.

by Roxanne -

Fill Your Life With Fabulous

Photo R. Meshar

During the past few years I have been consciously working on putting only good – no, make that fabulous – relationships, events and things into my life. Simultaneously, I have been eliminating or minimizing anything that doesn’t add something fabulous to my life.

Life is short. We never know how much time we have. Why spend it with people who treat others badly, pull us down or make us feel less than who we really are?

The most fabulous thing to add is service to others, especially service to those who are struggling. In helping them I help myself. That is the paradox of becoming who we are meant to be. We are all connected. We can’t really manifest our best selves until everyone is able to share their gifts. That is why working to end poverty and hunger is so important – crucial really. We need the gifts of everyone and we need to serve those who struggle in order to be healed of our own blindness.

When I am asked to participate in a group, event or activity I stop and ask, “Is this something that I can’t wait to do?” If the answer is “yes” then it goes on my calendar. If not, then I politely decline. No excuse required.

The same goes for people. If the relationship is mutual and life-enhancing I spend time there. If not, I minimize my exposure there as much as possible.

Think about where we spend most of our time: work, friends and family. Do you love your work? If yes, then you are filling your life with what you love. If not, then start taking steps to do what you love. To do anything less is to devalue the life you have been given.

The same is true of family and friends. Apply the “fabulous standard.” If you love spending time with everyone in your life, then you are in a good place. If not, minimize contact with those who don’t enhance your life or make you feel wonderful. Instead, start spending more time with those whose presence adds to your life. Be around people whom you admire, who appreciate you, make you feel terrific and are happy to spend time with you. Be around those who live with integrity and who value the common good. A helpful tip: these will not be people that you would normally expect.

Apply the “fabulous standard” to activities, food, movies, books, clothes and household items. In carefully selecting the content of my life I find that what is there is of high quality – but not necessarily high priced.

Live intentionally. It’s simple really. Be the empty bowl. The recipe: Take one life. Add everything you love. Take out everything you don’t. Mix and enjoy.

Whoever you are, wherever you are – fill your life with fabulous!

Originally published on this day last year, as I prepare for my doctoral proposal defense today – exactly one year later – I can see the importance of embracing filling my life with fabulous! Last year on this day I could never have envisioned completing my doctoral course work today. Thank you to all of the many people who supported me in this undertaking. I am VERY grateful to you all!

You may also like Secret of Wealth From Ancient Babylon, Babette’s Feast, Happiness is a Choice, Don’t Worry Be Happy and What Do You Do With Your Suffering?

 

by Roxanne -

School of Essential Ingredients

The School of Essential Ingredients is an amazing book by Erica Bauermeister that tells a story of how we truly are healed in and by community. It is through being in healthy, supportive relationships that we gain the strength and wisdom to be all that we are truly meant to be.

“A “heartbreakingly delicious” national bestseller about a chef, her students, and the evocative lessons that food teaches about life

Once a month, eight students gather in Lillian’s restaurant for a cooking class. Among them is Claire, a young woman coming to terms with her new identity as a mother; Tom, a lawyer whose life has been overturned by loss; Antonia, an Italian kitchen designer adapting to life in America; and Carl and Helen, a long-married couple whose union contains surprises the rest of the class would never suspect…

The students have come to learn the art behind Lillian’s soulful dishes, but it soon becomes clear that each seeks a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. And soon they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create.”

Great holiday reading. Check for it at your local library.

You may also like Babette’s Feast, Come to the Feast and Fill Your Life With Fabulous.

by Roxanne -

Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life

As someone who reads more theology and books on spirituality than the average person – it’s wonderful to be able to hold up extraordinary books in this area. Especially since there is so much in bookstores that isn’t very good.

Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life by Karen Maezen Miller (New World Library, 2010) is about as deeply spiritual as you can get. Miller is a seasoned, spiritual writer in the Buddhist tradition who understands that “your life is your monastery” – a phrase from the book that I loved and remembered. It sums up her understanding of life.

If you have ever thought that it was necessary to get away to another world, maybe a monastery, in order to deepen your spiritual life – reconsider that idea. In a world where most theology and spiritual writing has been done by men in religious life, Miller uses real, ordinary life, even laundry – something most women know well – to lift up the transcendence of our existence found right in the most ordinary aspects of our everyday lives.

Just consider her chapter titles – Toughest Stains: Getting Out the Traces of Self or Spin Cycle: Changing the Ending. I smiled just reading them!

“Ever found yourself up to your elbows in the messy stuff of your own everyday life and wondered, ‘Is this all there is?’ Karen Maezen Miller answers that age-old question with a resounding ‘Yes.’ Read this deceptively simple, deeply wise little book not to change your life but to fall quietly, unequivocally back in love with the life you already have.”
— Katrina Kenison, author of The Gift of an Ordinary Day

Yes, this is it exactly – “fall . . . in love with the life you already have.” Miller writes clearly and with insight. This is a book you will want to reread and then give to someone else, as I did.

Our spiritual lives are not separate from our secular or everyday lives – rather our deepest spiritual life is present exactly in the midst of our daily life. It is we who are not present to the transcendent always with us.

The question is, “How do we become present to the sacred?” Miller’s Hand Wash Cold is a delightful guide.

You may also like Babette’s Feast, Come to the Feast and Labyrinths.