"Sanconcho"

This past weekend I made "Sancocho," a traditional soup that people in Panama make when they have big family gatherings and any type of celebration, to share with whoever shows up for a meal.  It's not a fancy dish.  It is the soup of the people.  Rosa makes me that soup every time I visit her at her home in Panama.  It's filled with goodness, love and a side of white rice.  Nothing says home to me like a bowl of "Sancocho."  There's two versions, chicken or beef "sancocho."  My favorite is beef: "Sancocho de Res," and that's the one I made this weekend to celebrate spring break!  Every spoonful transports me to a time when life was simpler and carefree.  I didn't have much, but I was surrounded by the warmth of my people. "Sancocho" is always made in a big pot...the largest one you can find precisely because it is meant for sharing...because it's meant to build community...even if in a most humble way.

Today, as I ponder the scary things that are happening in the world, in our cities, towns, neighborhoods and families, I long for the days of simplicity...when a bowl of soup and a little bit of rice was all we needed to have a good time.  Making this soup brough up a deep-seated melancholy for a life without rush and ambition...making this soup also made me think of the story of "Stone Soup."

I remember the first time I heard of the "Stone Soup" story...it was at the New Castle Public Library's summer story hour.  We loved to go to the library in the summer for the summer reading program when the boys were little.  Even Dylan, who is not...a reader...every time we drive by the New Castle Public Library mentions it and spends some time reminiscing...

This morning, I think of the moral of this story, and of the importance of its lesson: sharing what little we have for the benefit of all.  It's the lesson of the feeding of the 5,000...it's the lesson of not hanging on so tightly to what we have because in letting go...in opening our hands and releasing the grip, we are filled up and renewed.  If the boy in the story of the feeding of the 5,000 hadn't showed up, Jesus would have still been able to feed the crowd, no problem...but...how much greater a lesson it is for us knowing that the selfless action of a young man led to such an amazing display of the power of solidarity and mercy. (John 6: 1-15)

Whether it is a bowl of Panamanian "Sancocho" with white rice, or "stone soup," or a feast of bread and fish enough to feed a town...I pray that the current instability of the world and around us would moves Christians to look inside and take the steps the Lord is calling us to take, in our own unique ways, for the benefit of all.  In Christ's Precious Name.  Amen!