AuburnChick's Adventures

Do any of you watch the series The Next Food Network Star?

The show comes on Sunday nights on The Food Network, and it is a competition to see who will be the network’s next star.

I love watching how the contestants interact with each other and deal with the challenges they are presented.  Plus, the food doesn’t look half bad either!

Well, on this past Sunday’s episode, I caught a phrase in a conversation that really struck me.

First, a bit of background.

There are two females who do not like each other.  No surprise there, eh?  Women can be so catty.

Serena is a gal who hails from Italy.  She speaks very quickly, and when she’s mad, look out!

Then, there’s Brianna, who was floundering but seems to be gaining confidence and finding her cooking voice, which doesn’t put up with much, let me tell you…

So, these two ladies do not get along.

Serena’s voice is annoying.  She talks all the time.  Brianna is extremely bossy, which annoys Serena.

Together, they are fire and ice.

During the first of Sunday’s challenges, both women came in the bottom two.  So, for the next challenge, the contestants were put into pairs, and Serena and Brianna were put together.

Yeah.

The challenge was that each team had a cooking trailer on Venice Beach, and they had to create dishes to serve to those coming by on the boardwalk.  They also had to create a name for their stand and work together, in a very narrow galley.

It was the perfect setting for a throw-down, and I’m not talking the Bobby Flay kind (if you watch this network very often, you’re understanding the language I speaketh).

Part of these types of “reality” shows is that contestants are interviewed away from everyone else.  It makes for good TV, I guess, to hear all of the stuff they say behind everyone’s backs.

Naturally, Serena and Brianna were livid that they were going to have to work as a team, and neither of them were shy to tell that to the audience.

Now, here’s the part that caught my attention…so much so that I reached over for a pen and wrote this down.

Serena, while talking about how much she disliked Brianna, said, “There will be honey on my lips but bitterness in my heart.”

Oh my gosh!!

Didn’t that just make your heart sad for her?

This phrase has been repeating itself inside my head over the last few days.

We are taught to put on a smile…be polite…no matter how we feel.  It’s the socially-accepted way of doing things.

I am not very good at this, I will admit.

I am the kind of person who wears my feelings on my sleeve, and if I’m not feeling something, I’m sure not going to fake it and pretend like things are okay.

Case in point:

There is a young gal…a sort-of-friend of Chicky’s who hurt her terribly the last two years of high school.  What this girl did to my precious baby was enough to make the Mama Bear in me come out.

Although I did nothing publicly, I stewed.

There is much bitterness in my heart.

However, unlike Serena, I do not have honey on my lips.

While I have not been rude to this girl, I do my best to avoid situations where I am around her.  If I see her, I avoid eye contact.

I just can’t be fake.

I’m not sure this is any better than saying nice things while harboring anger in my heart.

But still, Serena’s words have stuck with me and continue to make me think.

For one thing, I am no better than she is.  I am working on getting through the anger that often remains in my heart long after an offense (or supposed one) has taken place.

I long for there to be honey on my lips and love in my heart for the people I do not particularly care for.

That, my friends, is a sign of maturity and growth in the Lord.

Filed under: Christian | Tagged: bitterness, Christianity, Food Network, The Next Food Network Star, TV |