HERBS FOR DINNER

I very much enjoy sitting down and reading from the wisdom of Solomon in the Proverbs. The passage which I like perhaps more than any other is, "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith." (Pro 15:17) This passage paints two very vivid pictures in my mind.

The first is of a young couple who have just been married. Times are tough and they have very little to live on. They are only able to scrape together a few vegetables to eat, they can afford no meat. But the love these two have for each other is so powerful that they don't even notice their hunger. They eat their vegetables and are more content and happy than a man who just finished a seven-course meal.

The other picture is of a middle-aged couple who have no children, but are quite well off financially. Both are bitter and sarcastic. They are constantly criticizing and nagging each other, they are the epitome of misery. They wake up in a foul mood arguing with one another, they argue constantly all day, and then they go to bed still squabbling. They eat well at every meal, and they wear fine clothes. They live in a very elegant house with expensive furnishings. But none of these things seem to matter. Their surroundings can bring them no pleasure because they bring each other such misery.

As the world looks at the two couples they have only admiration and envy toward the older couple. They seem to have the kind of life which everyone covets so dearly; wealthy and successful. The younger couple, the poor wretched creatures, they should have never gotten married their neighbors say. They have nothing and are certainly to be pitied for their most miserable condition.

But the world's error is in believing that possessions bring happiness. This is a grievous error which men continue to commit daily. True happiness lies not in the abundance of things which we possess, but in the abundance of love in our lives. As for me, I would much rather share a dinner of herbs with someone I love.