THE SILVERWARE SERIES

# 11 FLATWARE AND SILVERWARE

There is Flatware and Silverware…. This must be put straight by definition: Flatware is a knife, fork and spoon that are not silver. Silverware is a knife, fork and spoon that are made of silver. Most Silverware is made of Stainless Steel and has a one percent coating of silver. But no one calls silverware flatware. If they do you probably don’t want to be around them… especially at suppertime.

When I was growing up there was a drawer in the kitchen where we put silverware. It was called the Silverware Drawer. It was just all put in there together and seemed happy enough. It is like Ray Hughes once wrote about his garage: “My garage is not designed for finding stuff. It is designed for looking for stuff.” This drawer was like that. But I later learned that silverware is much happier if it is put into a little plastic tray with dividers that separate the knifes, forks and spoons… and some larger and smaller of each and some specialty utensils as well. There are about 31different compartments in the little plastic tray. My later training was to learn to put all the different knifes, forks and spoons in their designated plastic tray spaces. For example: Unloading the dishwasher and placing the silverware in the drawer only takes about two hours of sweat, chills, jerks and little red bumps popping up on your neck and the back of your tongue and then they are all in the proper order. It was only later that I learned that they not only go into their individual space but they are to be stacked in an orderly fashion in such space. This practice can cause some permanent damage to various parts one’s nervous system and may also impede blood flow to various other organs.

But I am sure not complaining because of all the great benefits the Silverware Drawer has taught me: Patience, orderliness, boundaries, types and shapes, slow mental response, eye and hand coordination and processing… as well as forgiveness, mercy and anger management. This page will be the introduction to my manual called Silverware Therapy. It is like a Spiritual Discipline manual.
No, really, this is what happened.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus