Gravy and Frosting in your life

I finished a book yesterday.  I am still chewing on it and will probably have to reread it to see what all I missed.  I do recommend it as a great book, a book that will challenge you and make you realize things about yourself and the world around you.  I don't want to give much away about the book, Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan.  There were many things that hit me in this book but the description of gravy and frosting really made me think.

The book is about an Aboriginal tribe that invites a woman to go on a Walkabout.  The book tells of her journey of spirituality and life with these people.  She shares with them many things about the outside world like gravy and frosting.

Now, I am not much of a gravy eater.  I never have liked gravy except on my mashed potatoes and biscuits (things that I shouldn't eat anyway).  Frosting on the otherhand -- who doesn't like frosting?

The discussion on frosting and gravy went beyond what it was and what purpose it served.  Before she left the Aborigine tribe, they said this of gravy -- Mutants (that is us, people in society), know truth, but it is buried under thickening and spices of convenience, materialism, insecurity and fear.

Wow.  Gravy covers the real taste of food.  Gravy masks the flavor of the food that is really there.  But on the deeper level, we mask and hide things from our real self all the time.  At an early age we put on masks to be the person that we think we should be.  At school we act one way, at work we act one way, and at church we act an even different way.  Who are we really?  Even more than that, how do we get rid of the gravy in our life and be who we really are meant to be?

Then they describe frosting.  Frosting is so yummy, especially cream cheese frosting.  The Aborigines describe frosting as how we spend almost all the seconds of our existence in doing superficial, artificial, temporary, pleasant-tasting, nice appearing stuff and very little time developing our eternal beingness.

OUCH!!  When you think of it like that, frosting is not so yummy.  I don't know how many times in my life I have put off the importance of prayer, the importance of renewing myself spiritually.  Many times I would love to just sleep in a little later and think about God another time.  Many times the thought of God does not even enter my head because I am too busy on "me" time.  That is really sad.  As yummy as all of that other stuff is, how can I truly grow in God's grace if I put it off?

I laugh at my son.  He HATES anything on his food.  I call him my little purist.  Any sauce makes the food dirty.  He doesn't like dirty meat (with saucy seasoning), he hates dirty macaroni (macaroni salad).  He doesn't like gravy, bbq sauce or anything that takes away from the simple food.  Of course, he is young.  He also doesn't have to wear masks in his world to hide who he really is.  He can be who he is and that is fabulous.  He doesn't even really like frosting all that much.  So often there is TOO MUCH frosting and he asks me to take it off.

Gravy and frosting are funny things.  We think we have to have them.  We think life is so much better with them than without.  We cover up what is really there.  We put our focus on the pleasant tasting things instead of the important.

What is the gravy and frosting in your life?