A Recipe for Joy
A Recipe for Joy: I Am Not Alone
I admit it. Sometimes I feel like a lone voice crying in the desert.
Amidst big box stores, fast food restaurants, families with little or no time on their hands, and the alarming increase of artificial ingredients making their way into the American diet, to talk about things like families eating together regularly – and eating real things like butter, milk and eggs [and bacon!!!] – can make me feel like the odd man out. It goes against the grain.
Just a couple of weeks ago, a story ran on NPR’s All Things Considered that actually suggested that we should get rid of the notion that families are supposed to dine together regularly. Apparently, a large number of families in our country have a very difficult time actually dining together on a regular basis. Oh, and they feel guilty about that. Families meals are an ideal… an ideal that they just aren’t able to meet. So the solution offered by the commentator : simply change the ideal.
I am all for family “quality” time whenever you can get it. It doesn’t have to only be around the table. But come on, people, we can’t change what God has put into us. God created us to seek communion – with himself and with others – and the one of primary ways we experience communion is around the table… The table of the Eucharist at Mass, and also the family dinner table at home. From Genesis to Revelation, food plays a huge role in scripture. But it’s not just the food. It’s the meals. It’s the families around the table. It’s communion.
I am happy to say that I am not alone in going against the grain. The other day I had the pleasure of speaking with Robin Davis, author of A Recipe for Joy: A Stepmom’s Story of Finding Faith, Following Love, and Feeding a Family.
I love this book. And I am so happy that I had a chance to speak with Robin. We talked about food, recipes, meals, families, faith, and God.
A Recipe for Joy: Why Joy?
Our world is seriously lacking in the joy department. Personally, I think we are all too busy for our own good. We tend to forget how important, even necessary, joy in life really is.
One of the things I loved about Robin’s book is that she addresses a serious need for families, but she does so with joy. And her joy is contagious.
From the back cover:
There were three things food writer Robin Davis promised she would never do: move back to Ohio, get married, and join an organized religion. Never say never! – today, Davis lives back home in Ohio, is a wife and stepmother, and is a practicing Catholic. In Recipe for Joy, she serves up her inspiring story of food, family, and faith.
Listen to our conversation below. And read the book too. It is an inspiring story, one that can help all of us find joy in the midst of a hectic life that often dishes out suffering and heartache when we are really hungry for love. This message is for all of us.
