There are not too many practical uses for pasta. I mean aside from making various Italian dishes with names that sound like mob bosses, there is not too much you can do with it.
There is, however, one very notable exception.
It is the largely unappreciated art form of pre educational system humans known to most simply as Macaroni Art.
You know what I am talking about. Someone one day long ago figured out that uncooked pasta works great glued to construction paper in various shapes to appease small children in clean amusement for hours. I for one, never really saw the artistic side of Macaroni Art but I know that my four old self just got hungrier every time we had make some.
In case you don’t know, here is how the process of creating Macaroni Art works:
Adults tell kids what to do, show them how to do it; then let the kids go free and have at it. The kid puts all of his attention span and creative energy into his masterpiece. He knows that his macaroni elephant looks like a mushroom with eyes but it doesn’t matter to him. He also knows that the kid beside him is fully capable of making the Mona Lisa out of lasagna noodles but that also doesn’t matter because he did his best and that is all that counts. The great phenomenon here is that the kid never once thinks of keeping his masterpiece, but can’t wait until he gets home to give it to his mom or dad.
I can’t think of a better picture of the life of a Christian than macaroni art.
Think about it.
God tells us what to do; He shows us how to do it then lets us free to be creative with the hopes that we will enjoy ourselves completely and then offer our work back to Him. It makes so much sense.
Instilled deep inside of us is the desire to make beautiful art and give it back to the One who will appreciate it the most and this desire comes out when little kids are asked to make macaroni art. The problem is we grow out of pre-K and somehow get this idea that the gifts and abilities we have are solely to be used for our benefit and critiqued by us when they are not what we feel is good enough.
It shouldn’t matter that our greatest gifts hardly amount to anything recognizable, because they are the best of what we have been given. It shouldn’t matter what it all looks like in the end because we fully enjoyed making it and fully enjoyed giving it away.
It shouldn’t matter that somebody else does things way better than we do because what you make is for your Father not theirs. This life is your macaroni masterpiece, not theirs.
I think it is incredible that little kids can have so much pleasure in making art and then not think once about giving it all away. If you have ever been around a little kid with time on his hands you will inevitably find yourself with a stack of art that keeps piling up until you take their crayons away. They just keep giving and creating more of their masterpieces and never think of keeping one for themselves.
Sometimes I get this idea that I can use the gifts God has given me to become a super Christian that the world respects and remembers for eternity. It is like I can use the writing ability given to me to write a world changing, fame attracting masterpiece or use the speaking ability given to me to become the greatest preacher the world has ever known. My four year old self would smack me. He knew that what I create isn’t for me.
None of us have much but we always think that the art supplies given to us is ours to do whatever we want with but that is not the case at all. Some of us have the audacity to think that God never gave us anything at all and so we aren’t expected to do anything. We assume that if God didn’t make us “wise beyond our years,” socially extravagant or even physically attractive than we have nothing and should not be expected to attempt a masterpiece.
A parent receiving art from their kids never evaluates what materials, resources, or abilities the kid had available to him- they just appreciate it all because it was done out of love.
God does the same thing.
Sometime people who do have all the things the world desires think that they can actually make something beautiful with their macaroni. They think their best efforts are good enough to actually make a difference in the world.
God knows better. It is just macaroni.
When you think about the incredible power it took to shape the heavens and create humanity, the very best of what we do just becomes macaroni. It really isn’t any more valuable than gluing dried pasta to construction paper but God still lovingly accepts, and desires for it all.
What are you making with the little bit of macaroni you have been given?
What are you going to do with your masterpiece?
God desperately wants to display your macaroni masterpiece on the refrigerators of heaven but He can’t when all you want to do is keep it for yourself or pretend you can’t do anything.
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