The HEART of the matter....

Well, Howdy and Good Morning….lot of folks have today off work, school….Martin Luther King, Jr. Day….

So enjoy…

Well, making our journey one day at a time….going down our list of ‘ize’ words…’ize’ the suffix which means to be, to cause…

Today’s discussion will be on the word: TENDERIZE.

Before we get into this discussion, let’s look at the root word: tender.

Hmmm… just like so many words in our English language...several different meanings:

Such as: reference to a person's behavior or act; "showing gentleness and concern or sympathy"...

Something can also be said to be tender to touch due to an injury, such as a scrape, bruise.

How about describing meat: tender. This is when the cooked meat is easy to slice and tastes moist and fresh. The opposite in description or condition of meat is: NOT so easy to eat or cut is 'tough'.

Yet, another type of tender is used in the conducting of business... The dictionary defines this version of the word tender as "an offer to carry out work, supply goods, or buy land, shares, or another asset at a stated fixed price". Money is referred to as ‘tender’...how you are going to pay for something.

TENDERIZED...nothing like biting into a juicy, TENDER piece of grilled steak, chicken…nothing like the smell and taste of just right burned flesh…On the flip side, nothing quite so frustrating and disappointing to anticipate that first juicy bite and tough…tough…tough…meat..

Let’s just go on a rabbit trail for a moment:  There are many ways to tenderize tough meat before cooking it, which include pounding, scoring, soaking in a marinade and sprinkling it all over with a powdered meat tenderizer.

ALL these methods have the same goal in mind: Break down the dense, tough muscle fibers and the protein that binds them.

The Preacher can do a lot of things…and among the talents he has is grilling…he is the Master (son, Tim thinks he is…but Preacher is…hands down)...He loves to do it and makes my day…all I have to be responsible for are the ‘sides’. 

But, he has a process for the meat.  We try to buy rib eye…my, my, my…what a cut of meat!  Usually the Preacher can cook that cut of meat and it will ‘melt’ in your mouth…fork tender...it can stand up against any steak served at the steakhouses: Outback, Saltgrass, Road House…fine eating...

He has his process that the meat goes through: tenderize…and most of the time the outcome is DELISH.

But, for some reason, on some occasions; although, the usual process of tenderizing is followed: tough meat.  We chew, chew, and chew some more and finally…give up...tough.

Not sure what happened…

TENDERIZING meat…so what is the process?

Here is a recap:

Meat is made of muscle fibers held together by collagen.

Tenderizing meat means breaking the long strands of muscle as well as softening the collagen until it turns into gelatin. This soft gelatin soaks into the meat, tenderizing it and adding moisture to make the meat juicy.

Basically two methods:

·        chemical; using spices, along with vinegar based products.

·        Mechanical; beat, pound, score

A process indeed.

 

Now, back from the detour: tender in referring to a heart, a human muscle, soft, kind, gentle, compassionate…

 

We often refer to someone as tender heartened: means to care, look after, minister to, nurture, pay attention to, protect, provide for, take pains, tend to, treasure, watch over…tender hearted….in a word compassionate... And the opposite: neglect, disregard, ignore…   One of my favorite worship song is: Hosanna…there are countless songs with this name, all of them good…but the one I am referring to is written by Brook Fraser…the Bridge states: Heal my HEART and make it clean Open up my eyes to the things unseen Show me how to love like you have loved me Break my HEART for what breaks yours Everything I am for your Kingdom’s cause As I walk from earth into eternity... Powerful stuff…tenderized Unfortunately we live in a very tough word…tough, mean, twisted cruel hearts…for example:

Ø  Children mistreated and abused in unspeakable, unimaginable ways Ø  Animals starved, beaten, misused Ø  Old people, robbed, scammed, beaten, neglected, abused Ø  Wives...or in some cases husbands, beaten, battered, abused   One story of horrific proportions (one among so many) took place in a large city subway-recently.  An older woman there by herself, waiting for her train. A young man comes up to her, grabs her purse and starts beating her over and over…bad enough... THEN drags her to the subway tracks and THROWS her onto the TRACKS...if I had not seen the video footage of this I would have thought this story fabricated.  Sadly enough, it was true.  Hard hearted to the core.  The guy did get her purse and immediately started using her credit cards….but thankfully he was BUSTED...caught…hope he and his kind get set away somewhere for a long time…and the woman...somehow she survived… Unfortunately, this type of behavior is typical on any given day, in any given geographic location, to any given person…  ‘who happens to be in the wrong place and the wrong time’… Our world, meaning our people, even some of us hardcore ‘Christians’ have allowed a hard, stony heart to be replaced by that soft, tender heart that Jesus desires for us. Speaking of animals: couple of places just creep me out:  the Circus...I do not like the Circus.  Ask my grandkids I NEVER take them to the Circus…I have don’t like them.  First, the creepy, silly clowns: creepy…I have visions of IT, Steven King’s infamous take on clowns.  I do not like to see those animals do what is unnatural, out of character for them.  Tigers jumping through rings of fire…  Elephants walking around on 2 hind feet, making a limbo type of line walking around a ring…really?? As if that is not bad enough…all done under the threat of severe beating and/or other punishment...creepy...heartless. hard hearted… and that is what we know…only God knows what unspeakable horrors these animals endure...no wonder they break and go insane, wild, killing in an attempt to break free of this environment. I am not real thrilled with the Zoo either…unless it is a Zoo that has really tried to re-create the animals’ natural habitat…then somewhat acceptable. Ever seen the look in the eyes of the gorilla, caged behind glass windows, people gawking at him.  Sad...me looking at him,  him looking back at me, sad…wonder what he is thinking? TENDERIZE: our hearts can be hard, stony, callous, uncaring, neglectful, evil, twisted… How does one get such a hard heart?  Life in general…generation of abuse, neglect, handed down as a legacy.  I see it in the eyes and faces of children I see every day.  4 and 5 years old, already exposed to things they should never see, spoken to by their parents like they are worst than animals (“get your,  ___ over here, before I ___ your ___”) sent to school hungry, dirty, sick, unprepared; parents who come to pick up a child an hour or two after everyone else is picked up and gone home; children abused and molested for the adult’s sick pleasures. They Children whose schools, teachers, principals, counselors and librarians, work and give and encourage and promote  parents who never even take the time to open up their child’s little backpacks to take an interest and support what we have lovingly and painstaking tried to do for their child.  And by the way, too often, these are the parents who have child, after child… Not to mention the hardhearted who agree to and actually perform abortions….hardhearted… 40 million babies estimated aborted….hmmm...God have mercy on our souls! Now these little hearts are broken, battered, beaten down…thus hard, stony, little hearts...that are always on the offensive…”I will get you before you get me”…I will take and grab and do what I need to survive’…thus acts of cruelty to animals: setting them on fire, skinning them; act of cruelty to the old, robbing, beating, throwing old women onto subway tracks…hard hearted. The antidote… Jesus…able to tenderize the hardest, cruel, twisted heart…somehow His blood that was shed on Calvary and cleanse and wash away the darkest, deepest, deranged sin committed…that’s why He came. Ezekiel 11:19…”Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh and give a heart of flesh.” Tenderized heart….sometimes it has to be beaten, scored, pounded….we can be tough…the tougher the ‘meat’ the heart…the harder to process to tenderize us…but oh the outcome: Sweet, compassionate, kind, caring, forgiving, … Well, whew…had no idea where this ‘ize’ word may take me today…so there all laid out…front and center… Think we all could use a good heart exam today…not the physical kind…but the spiritual heart…that thing that drives us, moves us, directs us… Tenderized…let’s get tender before the Lord and each other   Until tomorrow….here on the Front Porch!