麻豆约拍

Good morning.

When I was in junior school the musical Mary Poppins had just come out. Our music teacher, up to date and keen to engage us, taught us songs from the show. We sang happily about the way a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, never giving a thought to the way this phrase would come back to haunt our whole society in later life.

There鈥檚 no denying the fact we all eat too much sugar now. Children announce how many Easter Eggs they鈥檝e been given. Food producers confess how much hidden sugar is to be found even in savoury products. We鈥檙e all taken to task for the way we opt for sugary drinks, warned about the hidden sugar in a glass of wine, and told the damage we鈥檙e doing to our teeth, our waistlines and our life expectancy.

So was Mary Poppins wrong? Should we stop sugaring the pill so liberally all the time? Yes and no.

I know that if I鈥檓 going to tackle something difficult - to deal with something hard to swallow - I need to be gentle with myself and give myself a few rewards too. If not, I simply end up feeling totally drained. Of course, I need to be careful at the same time that I don鈥檛 allow myself the treat without first doing the tricky thing I鈥檝e been putting off!

On the other hand, demanding that life should coat every experience with a saccharine finish and pander to my sweet tooth is just unrealistic and unhealthy. Some things just have to be faced and got on with. Avoiding them doesn鈥檛 do me any good.听 Perhaps what we need is to learn how to keep taking the medicine but use a smaller spoon for the sugar to follow.

O God, your promise is sweeter on my tongue than honey.
Help me to be fed by your love today, and to share it with others.

Amen

听