Coffee in a Cardboard Cup

“The trouble with the world today it seems to me, is coffee in a cardboard cup. The trouble with the affluent society, is coffee in a cardboard cup.” This is the opening line from a song we are singing in the communty chorus to which I belong. It is an upbeat tune – remeniscent of something from the 1920’s, that you might dance the Charleston to. The song goes on to explain that we live in a world that is instant this – and hurry up – and there is no time to enjoy pleasantries and to relax.

My parents came down to spend the night last Friday. Saturday morning over breakfast we were discussing how infrequently we actually sit down at the table to eat. At our house, it only happens when we have company. Most of the time we grab something on the run – eating in a hurry – in front of the television. We don’t sit and talk at the table any more.

A few years ago, we hosted an exchange student from Brazil. She was a speech pathologist there – and wanted to pursue her doctorate in speech pathology, but in order to do so , she needed English. She was here to improve her English skills. She worked in San Paulo, but was from a village outside of that big city. During her stay with us, she was absolutely fascinated with all of the prepared foods we had here. She had never seen biscuits from a can. (I’m sure that there are probably people in our world who didn’t know there was ever a time when biscuits DIDN’T come from a can.) She couldn’t get over the different types of food you could make from a box. She fell in love with Hamburger Helper! One day, she was going to make supper for us – it was one of those days that we were flying around going from here to there in hurry. She went to the store, bought Hamburger Helper in the lasagna flavor, then tried to buy hamburger. Well, the shopping thing was still pretty new to her, and she saw ground beef, ground chuck, ground round – but nothing labeled “hamburger.” She wasn’t sure it was the same stuff. Then she reasoned to herself that lasagna was Italian – and pepperoni was Italian – so that would probably work. (In case you are wondering, pepperoni is NOT a viable substitute for hamburger.) That meal was not so good – but we all had a good laugh about it. In her country – and being familiar with the language – she would have cooked a wonderful meal from scratch, but the instant processed stuff in a box just didn’t make the grade.

Processed food is good in that preparation time has been cut significantly. But there is much about processed food that is not good.
Most instant food is extremely high in sodium, fat, and sugars. And even those that are labeled “healthy” may have hidden dangers. When they cut any one of those three things to make the food “healthier” they usually load up on the other two. It is not uncommon for a frozen entrée to have more sodium in one meal than I am allowed (as a heart patient) in one DAY. Yet we have come to rely on these instant foods.

“He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10, NIV) Maybe it’s time to get off the rollercoaster we call life – and just be still, not in a hurry, not rushing off to the next appointment on our busy schedule. Maybe it’s time we slowed down – returned to a simpler lifestyle – and paid attention to the things around us. Maybe it’s time we listened to God’s voice.