I love mayo.
Spicy mayo, plain mayo, mixed with ketchup. Drip your fries in it, spread it on a hamburger bun, heck I’ll eat it by the spoonful. Call me gross, I don’t care. This is the hill I will die on. Mayo is the best condiment.
When they said God was in the details, they were not kidding. The Lord blessed me with a future spouse who not only shares the faith, values and outlook on life, but also an intense love for mayo.
Ladies, entrust to the Lord every single desire of your heart when it comes to your vocation. The Lord is not outdone in generosity and reverences every single desire, big and small, we present to him. Tell God all about the desires of your heart, thank him in advance for hearing you, then sit back, relax and watch him bring them about in marvelous ways. I promise you will be amazed!
A test in patience
The other day my fiancé, Fernando, and I were talking about our love for mayo and began to discuss how exactly it is made. He shared that egg yolk is mixed with lemon and salt, and then, slowly, oil of some type is drizzled in. Through this process of emulsification, after some time of whipping and drizzling, you get creamy, dreamy, thick mayo.
After a few weeks of unsuccessful attempts at yielding delicious mayo, Fernando was lamenting to me about his struggles. We consulted Google and a few YouTube videos. Then, it dawned on him that his mother actually made mayo frequently when he was growing up. So we decided the next time we went over to his parents’ house, we would ask her to show us the ropes so we could take our love for mayo to the next level.
The blessed day came, and the three of us crowded into the kitchen with an old bowl, a wooden spoon, one lemon, an egg yolk, a pinch of salt, and a bottle of Spanish extra virgin olive oil.
Fernando whisked intensely, and I drizzled in the oil. After several minutes of the pale yellow liquid mixture not thickening, Fer exclaimed with frustration “This always happens, I don’t understand. This should not be that hard, but every time I try, it never turns out.”
His mom walked over and looked at the mix. “Fernando, calm down.” She said, “You have to be patient. You’ve got it all right. Keep doing what you’re doing and be patient.”
Sure enough 10 minutes later, the thickest, most luscious, rich mayonnaise was made.
I cannot confirm or deny who ate the entire bowl of mayo. All I can say is that there was no more mayo left at the end of dinner, and homemade mayonnaise may or may not be a part of every single meal we make these days.
Our detail-oriented God
This detail-oriented God of ours had me thinking about this experience in the days and weeks to follow. How often do I abandon the practice of my faith when I don’t see immediate results? When the initial excitement of seeking to live a life of virtue goes away and I’m tired of the mundane, what keeps me from straying off the path?
What strikes me is how all of this came about in the context of communion. It was the sharing of an interest that started and maintained a conversation. With time spent and shared experiences, eventually the interaction spread and more people were brought into the mix. Then it was through group participation and teamwork that the desired results were achieved.
It’s the people in our lives and the communities we are a part of that ultimately keep us and sustain us on the path. Additionally, and maybe most importantly, this way of doing life together also helps us find joy and enjoyment along the way. For the spiritual life is not merely hitting goals and meeting objectives, but meeting and encountering the person of Christ everyday in and through our circumstances and communities.
Call me gross. I don’t care, I’ll fight you. I love mayo. For not only is it objectively tasty and satisfying to the stomach, but it is also now a condiment to help satiate my soul as well as my relationships.
