Chicken Nuggets

Sometimes, I wonder if God is just banging His head on the fridge when He thinks about me. I wonder because, for all of my witticisms and efforts to charm and banter with ease, I get spiritually retarded every once in a while. In fact, most of the time that I'm just not getting it, I don't even realize how off I am.

I heard Donald Miller give an interesting message on Father's Day '09 [Yes, I realize it was 7 months ago... see above]. Actually, I don't remember much of it. But, the fact that I'm bringing it up now means that what I do remember must have been interesting. He talked about this time he had dinner with a very nice family. In this family was a 4 year old girl who had just discovered the wonder that is the chicken nugget.

As everyone sat around the table waiting to enjoy the meal the mother and father were setting out, the little girl, having surveyed the scene and having realized there were no nuggets on the table, scrunched up her nose and asked in a slightly perturbed 4-year-old squeak, "Where are the chicken nuggets?".

The father calmly replied, "We aren't having chicken nuggets tonight."

Immediately, the cogs began turning in the child's mind and the civility of her countenance faded. She did what all children do when they can't get their way. She threw a fit. Wailing and screaming and crying out against the injustice of her father's tyrannical rule [obviously using smaller words], she was making quite a raucous when her father sat back and said, "I've got all night. You're not getting chicken nuggets. Come to the table and eat what I've prepared for you."

Can you hear the echoes of your own story in his words?  I can definitely hear mine.

Frequently, I am of the opinion that my problems are vast and possibly paradigm shifting.  Of course, I'm talking about a very localized paradigm shift.  However, I tend to be pretty narcissistic when it comes to problems, so any uncontrolled changes in my life seem pretty huge to me.

Thanks to this story, I have begun to realize just how menial and insignificant are the major problems of my life when compared to an infinitely vast, infinitely experienced, infinitely benevolent God.  He has the big picture, and I'm just a whiny kid [in a spiritual sense].  In my ignorance, I don't appreciate all of the things God does for my well being.  I have no idea about nutrition and spiritual vitamin deficiencies [work with me on the metaphor here].  I just want the chicken nuggets that brighten up my evenings.

In my seemingly unshakable state of ignorance, I fail to realize that what I want may not be what's best for me.  What I want may not be what I need.  My own desires may not be enough to sustain me completely.  They might just be chicken nuggets.

That's not even the craziest part.  The craziest part is how important my chicken nuggets are to me.  And, I seriously doubt that I'm alone in this.  How many of us continue to pray about the same things over and over until prayer becomes a chore.  We pray to remind God that we're still passionate about that one thing that we're always bringing up.  We pray to get what we want and attempt to maintain some aspect of control instead of praying His kingdom come and His (sometimes incredibly mysterious and terrifying) will be done.  We pray to stagnate instead of to grow.  Well, at least I do.

So, what exactly is it about the unknown that's so scary?  Why fear boiled asparagus?  Do we think that our God, who cooks up some really amazing stuff, will give us something unpalatable?  Maybe.  But, shouldn't we, in that case, realize that He's just giving us what we need to grow?  Maybe before we scrunch our noses, we should remember that God has made preparations for us that take more into account than we realize.  Before we scrunch our noses, we should remember that God has been around for eternity.  I imagine He has an incredibly sophisticated palate.   And, the things we hold onto so tightly and yearn for so stubbornly: they might just be chicken nuggets.

At the end of the day,  however long the day is, we're not getting what we whine for anyway.  We just need to sit down at the table and eat what He has prepared for us.  Now, I'm not saying that we give up on chicken nuggets forever.  That would be a horrible mistake.  We do, however, need to realize that chicken nuggets are best when we don't have to whine for them.

Too often, I treat the problems I'm praying about with such an intense gravity that God probably chuckles.  Too often, I fail to remember that everything is within His grasp.  I fail to remember that He truly is in control.  He's the one with the mysterious plastic card that works outside of my understanding, while I'm just a little kid trying to understand what happiness is.  With hardly a thought and a swipe, I could be given the box of nuggets I want so badly...but only if the time is right.  And, I don't get to make that call.

This is a bit extensive for an analogy, but I sometimes find it so accurate that it's scary.  That needs to change.

It's taken a while, but this story has slowly shifted my perception of the worth of my problems to God. It's terrifying and beautiful.  I mean, I'm a little selfishly disappointed sometimes when I realize that my problems are just chicken nuggets.  More so though, I'm in awe of the vastness of God.  How could I even think that my problems are so important?  My greatest fears and most difficult challenges are as insignificant to God as chicken nuggets.  In fact, everyone's fears and challenges are just chicken nuggets.  Still, he loves us.  Still, he wants to spend His time with us.  He loves us even when we whine and throw fits.

I guess that's what it all comes back to in the end.  He loves us regardless.  It's truly unconditional...

My prayer is that God would expand our palates and we would accept what He prepares for us even when it doesn't include chicken nuggets.