The Whole Enchilada

Ever since the king of burgers told us that we could have it our way (OK, maybe even before that!) we've gotten a bit spoiled, don't you think?  It's really hard for us to accept those package deals...we want control over all the details.

"I like the color of THOSE and the style of THESE and the shape of THIS ONE..."

"I like THAT model, THIS year, THAT feature..."

"I'll take that one over there, but with THESE, and not THOSE...."

Options, options, options.  If we can't have it OUR way, well, we'll just head over to the Golden Arches, right?

We run into a bit of a problem, though, when we're dealing with people, don't we?  We may prefer certain features over others, and get a little frustrated (or worse!) when we have to take the package deal.  So I might enjoy my friend's good humor, for example, but when she needs to let off steam because her marriage is in a shambles, I'm no longer entertained.  You might like to be entertained by Uncle Harry's story-telling, but when he has one-too-many at the party (which happens more often than not...) you soon lose patience.  We're good with good listeners, until they want us to listen to them.

Can't we have the parts we like and leave the rest behind?

The answer is "yes....and no."

Yes, we can just enjoy the pieces of others we like and leave the rest behind.  But the consequence, for us and for them, is a fast-food diet of shallow relationships.  If we're willing to go deeper, though, and to accept people completely for who they are, we'll discover a deep, rich, complex blend of flavors and textures that is mutually nourishing and, in the end, far more satisfying....

It's the whole enchilada, which is probably what we've been craving all along--and maybe what we all really need.

"Love one another as I have loved you..."