Friday, July 16, 2010

I'll Have the Tropical Heat, Please

For my recent 40th birthday, a dear, faraway friend sent me a basket filled with a mouthwatering assortment of truffles, chocolate covered nuts and chocolate filled cookies. 
 It also included something just a little bit different.





The name Tropical Heat sent me searching for the list of ingredients.  
Dark Chocolate.....no surprise there-I like dark chocolate
Roasted Macadamia Nuts.....sounds good
Dried Pineapple.....okay, that explains the tropical part
Dried Mango.....hmmm, that will be interesting
Dried Papaya....wonder what what tastes like
Unsweetened Coconut Flakes....again, wouldn't be tropical without this
Chili Powder.....what?!?!
Cayenne Pepper......seriously?!?!?!?
A few days later, I had some ladies at my house and we broke open the basket and the "Tropical Heat".






I cut the chocolate into small pieces so we could each try a bite.  The response was mixed.  Some liked it.  Some didn't.  I fell on the side that did enjoy the unexpected blend of flavors.  
The chocolate sparked the memory of a conversation I had years ago with another dear, faraway friend.  We were discussing marriage and the differences between our respective relationships.  She compared them to ice cream.  Hers was vanilla-sweet, smooth and relatively predictable. Mine was jalapeno dark chocolate chunk-sweet and spicy with some surprising (and not always pleasant) bumps.  At the time, Mark and I had hit a jalapeno and the ice cream wasn't very tasty.  I felt like it was a bad thing that we were not vanilla ice cream.   I longed for vanilla...or at least a good mint chocolate chip marriage.  
But, that was not what God had in mind for us.  
Our marriage has repeatedly weathered the bumps and burns of the jalapeno peppers.   Sometimes the heat has been  so intense that we have tears streaming down our faces.   I have wondered more than once how much more heat I can take.  Can I endure one more bite?
And then we hit a chocolate chunk.  The place where our relationship is deep and complex.  We relish the sweetness.  We savor the velvety richness and allow it to linger in our mouths.   It is that much sweeter because we remember the sting from the peppers. 
Over the years, I have learned to not only accept, but actually embrace the different flavors of our marriage.   It is not always smooth and sweet and it is NEVER going to be vanilla.  And that is okay.  Too much sweet leaves me feeling sick.  
And from now on, I am going to compare our marriage to a chocolate bar instead of ice cream.  Frankly, that jalapeno chocolate chunk ice cream would just be nasty.  
But the Tropical Heat chocolate bar was good.  
Very good.  
It isn't for everyone and that is okay.  Our differences in taste are what make life interesting.
Somehow when all those seemingly incompatible and incongruous ingredients are mixed together in the right balance, it works.  It becomes something not only edible, but delicious.  When combined properly, the result is greater than the sum of its parts.
That, my friends, is the story of our marriage.  When we offer up to God ALL of our ingredients, He is able to blend and tailor them to strike a uniquely perfect balance that works.  We become more than just the sum of our parts.   
And, it is good.  
Very good. 
Some marriages are Hershey Bars.
Some are Hershey Bars with Almonds.
I’ll have the Tropical Heat, please.

3 comments:

Jill said...

I sure have missed you!

Stella said...

Another fantastic analogy, Amy! You have such a way of explaining things. I love it! Now, I'm going to try to identify the flavor that describes us ; )

Kimm said...

Love this! I think I would describe mine as rocky road, at times, but for the most part, I would say it is one of the many fabulous concoctions at Jenny's ice cream in Columbus Ohio. Earthy, authentic, raw, real, and a surprisingly unique blend of ingredients that just work together.