“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” –Genesis 1:31
This devotion contains two confessions. First, I do not like mushrooms. I don’t order them on my pizza; I don’t like them in my spaghetti sauce. I don’t even like them fried and dipped in ranch. I know it sounds like I am a little kid refusing to eat his vegetables, but I just don’t like them. Yuck!
I don’t try to keep my feelings about mushrooms a secret and that is why I was surprised when my wife made an off-the-wall dinner suggestion. Sometime ago, were on vacation in Arlington, TX when my wife spotted a restaurant and suggested that we try it for dinner. The name of the restaurant was the Mellow Mushroom. Immediately, my upper lip quivered and my face puckered up.
I reluctantly agreed, since I had chosen our lunch destination. She told me that I would like it because it was a restaurant that specialized in pizza, but the only image I could conjure up in my mind was a slab of dough covered in sliced mushrooms being dropped on our table.
When we sat down at our table and opened up our menu I was pleasantly surprised. This is when the second confession comes into the story. The food options were great and our pizza was fantastic. We had a great dinner!
It seems that I prejudged the whole restaurant because of one word in the restaurant title. As soon as I heard the restaurant name I made up my mind I would not like what they had to offer. My preconceived notions could have not been more wrong. It was a great place and we had a great time there.
I wonder how many great experiences we miss in life because we allow one small factor to develop our opinion. Surely, this is true for food, but it applies to other areas as well. We prejudge restaurants; we prejudge movies, books, events and even people and so often on just one little fact. If we truly want to live life to the fullest we have to be a people who are willing to move past our initial thoughts, worries and fears and try. It will open up a whole new world of great experiences for each of us.
Keith King, Online Campus Pastor
