Food for Thought

Hubbs and I joined a supper club of 8 friends. The host and hostess set the menu direction with their entrée choice and the other 3 couples show up with accompanying dishes and wine. Spreading the cooking burden out like this works perfectly. Nobody loses their mind slinging hash.

The group made a firm resolution to keep it at 8 people for a couple reasons... 8 is about as many people as our homes can comfortably accommodate, we all know each other so there's a built-in compatibility, and... very important... we felt 8 was the maximum number of people that could be contained in a single conversation at the table without breaking into multiple chats.

Some of the most interesting things I've ever heard have been relaxing with friends at the dinner table and the new supper club did not disappoint. To start us off we used Table Topics conversation starter cards. We've discussed experiences, beliefs, disappointments, fantasies, politics, lessons learned, and those are just a handful of the cards. This weekend someone drew a God card. It was fascinating to hear how 7 other people perceive God. This led us into discussing life and death, the spiritual, the existence of souls and other dimensions. It was getting late, but it looked like a seance might be a possibility.

My own belief system is quite convoluted, I find it hard to explain in a lucid manner. But today I was startled to read this elegant and deceptively simple explanation in LUCY BY THE SEA: A NOVEL by Elizabeth Strout. I haven't finished the book yet, but it's a good one, I highly recommend it.

* * * * * * * * * * the following is from the book:

“Well, my feelings about God have shifted over the years, and all I can say is: There’s more than meets the eye.” I added, “I’m just pretty sure there’s more than meets the eye.” 

Bob was watching me. He had lit a cigarette and was just holding it in front of him. “What I think,” he said, “is what was written on a huge sheet of paper that was tacked onto the bulletin board in the Congregational church we sometimes went to when I was a kid. GOD IS LOVE. That was written in block letters on this bulletin board in the downstairs reception room. And it’s so funny that I would remember it, but I guess I always have.” He inhaled, squinting against the smoke.”

"Well, that's a good thing to remember," I said. "It's true." After a moment I said "You know, I read a book a few years ago, and some character in said something like, It's our duty to bear the burden of the mystery with as much grace as we can."

Bob nodded. "That's pretty good."

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