{"id":1745,"date":"2022-06-23T09:46:51","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T13:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1745"},"modified":"2022-06-23T09:46:51","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T13:46:51","slug":"the-real-spice-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/23\/the-real-spice-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"The Real Spice of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cHey, we\u2019re running low on cinnamon.\u00a0 Could you pick some up the next time you swing by the market?\u201d
\u00a0
For more than a thousand years in Western history, such a request would have been incomprehensible.\u00a0 Spices were exotic and rare \u2013 among the most valuable commodities on earth.\u00a0 Today we take for granted that for a few dollars we can replenish our supply of cinnamon any time we want.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0
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Things were different for medieval Europeans.\u00a0 Aside from the welcome presence of salt, meals were comparatively bland.\u00a0 When spice traders first introduced novel tastes like ginger, cloves, and black pepper, demand for more of these extraordinary flavors quickly escalated to a level of desperation.\u00a0
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The problem was supply.\u00a0 The plants that produced the most delightful spices grew far away on remote islands in the South Pacific.\u00a0
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Nutmeg and mace thrived on only nine tiny volcanic islets between Borneo and New Guinea.\u00a0 Cloves were limited to just six specks of land in the Moluccas.\u00a0 Since there are 16,000 islands in the Indonesian archipelago, spread over 735,000 square miles, it\u2019s no wonder it took European sailors a long time to discover what they came to call the Spice Islands.\u00a0
\u00a0
From the early 1400s to the early 1500s, the residents of those islands could be forgiven for thinking they had hit the jackpot.\u00a0 Here came traders carrying precious metals and tools for bartering. \u00a0Arabs and Europeans gladly parted with gold and silver in exchange for tons of pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric.\u00a0
\u00a0
The marketplaces of Italy, France, and Britain were far away, however.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t easy traversing thousands of miles over land or sea.\u00a0 Such journeys were exceedingly dangerous, and militia were required to provide security.\u00a0
\u00a0
There were \u201cmiddlemen\u201d at every stage of the journey, each taking a financial cut.\u00a0 By the time nutmeg reached Europe it had been marked up approximately 60,000 times its original price.\u00a0 During Roman times, Pliny the Elder noted that cinnamon was worth 15 times its weight in silver.\u00a0 And at one point during the heyday of the spice trade, a ton of cloves could be sold for two tons of gold.\u00a0
\u00a0
Unsurprisingly, there was significant financial incentive to cut out the middlemen.\u00a0 In his book Spice: The History of a Temptation<\/em>, Jack Turner notes, \u201cThere was a time when grown men sat around and thought of nothing but black pepper.\u00a0 How to get it.\u00a0 How to get more.\u00a0 How to control the entire trade in pepper from point of origin to purchase.\u201d \u00a0It was a high stakes enterprise. \u00a0Social historian Bill Bryson observes that nobody would have died if their diet didn\u2019t include spices, but plenty of people died trying to procure them.\u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0
When Christopher Columbus approached the Spanish court with his plan to sail west, one of his primary talking points was the possibility of finding a shortcut to the Spice Islands.\u00a0
\u00a0
Spices were highly prized during Bible times, too \u2013 although not as much for food as for fragrances.\u00a0
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At his birth, Jesus received gifts of frankincense and myrrh.\u00a0 Shortly before his death he was anointed with a sweet-smelling spice called spikenard (or just \u201cnard\u201d), which was derived from the roots of a local plant. \u00a0This rare scent is mentioned several times in the Old Testament book of Song of Songs, where the Lover\u2019s words in 4:13-14 may be loosely translated, \u201cDarling, you smell like spikenard.\u201d\u00a0 We may assume that turn of phrase came in second as an ancient Middle Eastern pick-up line, trailing only, \u201cWell, here I am.\u00a0 What are your other two wishes?\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
Why were spices worth so much?
\u00a0
They were hard to get.\u00a0 The demand kept growing because the supply was so limited.\u00a0 As a general rule, when people find it hard to get their hands on what they deeply desire, they become desperate, almost haunted with yearning, and therefore willing to go to extreme measures.\u00a0
\u00a0
But when time and technology solved the supply issue, bringing plenteous quantities of cinnamon to European and American kitchens, the demand rapidly declined.\u00a0 Now we take spices for granted.\u00a0 We don\u2019t get bent out of shape if a child accidentally spills the nutmeg on the counter.\u00a0 No one spends his life thinking about how to get more black pepper.\u00a0
\u00a0
Which brings us to the ebbs and flows of our appreciation for the real<\/em> greatest treasure on earth.\u00a0
\u00a0
When we first grasp the depth of God\u2019s love for us \u2013 his willingness to forgive our dumbest mistakes and to pick up the cumulative tab of the world\u2019s sin on the cross \u2013 most of us are overcome with wonder and awe.\u00a0 We promise God that we will never stop giving thanks.
\u00a0
But over time we become accustomed to God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 After all, the supply is endless.\u00a0 It\u2019s always there.\u00a0 It\u2019s God\u2019s job<\/em> to love me, right?\u00a0
\u00a0
So we begin to take for granted the privilege of knowing the Creator, talking to him at any given moment, and savoring the gifts of his grace and mercy.
\u00a0
But God will not be taken for granted<\/em>.
\u00a0
The Bible\u2019s authors have a remedy for our struggles.\u00a0 We are to seek<\/em> the Lord at all times.\u00a0
\u00a0
\u201cSeek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near\u201d (Isaiah 55:6).\u00a0 \u201cYou will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart\u201d (Jeremiah 29:13).\u00a0 \u201cAsk and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you\u201d (Luke 11:9).\u00a0
\u00a0
Seeking isn\u2019t just for spiritual beginners.\u00a0 The life of seeking never ends.\u00a0 God calls us to seek greater and greater depths with him every new day.\u00a0
\u00a0
In so doing, the wells of our wonder and gratitude will be refilled.\u00a0
\u00a0
And we\u2019ll never again take for granted that following Jesus is the real spice of life.\u00a0

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\u201cHey, we\u2019re running low on cinnamon.\u00a0 Could you pick some up the next time you swing by the market?\u201d\u00a0For more than a thousand years in Western history, such a request would have been incomprehensible.\u00a0 Spices were exotic and rare \u2013 among the most valuable commodities on earth.\u00a0 Today we take for granted that for a few dollars we can replenish… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[363],"class_list":["post-1745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gratitude"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1747,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1745\/revisions\/1747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}