Lesser things: Alcohol and Idols

Now, it seems strange for me to post about this on my blog. I shall get to it after my story. I bought my first alcohol today. It was a slight curiosity but also with an intent to cook with it. I like cooking. I bought a Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio. It is an Australian White wine that has sharp citrus notes and a dry aftertaste. (I can't stand Chardonnay.) I perhaps cooked 1/2 of the wine (as I intended) and drank the rest from a 750ml bottle. I had a very slight buzz for like 30 minutes. I made a chicken & vegetable dish in a white wine sauce. (It was almost a concotion.) This was served over noodles. The Pinot Grigio was a little more acidic than I thought it would be. I was expecting a heavier olivy taste with less acid but got an acidic clean white. My impressions from prior experience are that acidic Wines seems to be balanced out by Cheese (smoothness against tannin/acid) and mustard (astringency). So I added these ingredients to the sauce. I would rate the overall success of the taste to be a 7. The wine itself tasted a 9/10, relative to my wine prefernce. Yet, the scale for wine itself ranges 0-5/10 verse everything else.



Lets start by saying. I understand alcohol. I have an idea where buzzed ends and drunk begins. Alcohol first slows your senses. Your reactions are delayed. Your mind starts to slow down as it gets harder for your mind to process what you see/think. You begin to have a visual delay much like when you're dizzy from spinning around in circles. You know you are not quite fully there at this point. You are much more clumsy or at least feel it. Yet, drunk begins when slowly you lose control of your body and your thoughts.

When buzzed or drunk, inhibitions go away but convictions generally remain the same. If you desire something, less things will stop you from following through. Eventually not even reason stops you. Luckily, your body is too impared at the point. If you don't desire it, you will not have such a desire bother you. Ok, I have brought all this up to discuss what it means with respect to spirituality.

It is my contention that drunkeness and alcohol do not limit spirituality. They rather take hold of it. It cages the heart like a bird rather than sets the heart free. From here, one's heart is prodded by the devil. Sin is conceived much more easily. Alcohol stops one from running away. All sorts of Idols are allowed to reign unrestrained in one's heart. You can be sure they existed prior but the mind kept them at bay. Excitement from a sports game lasts longer as it takes you longer to fully realize what happened during a play. It takes longer to realize that it may be fun but it is not Godward. Alcohol can set you off on the wrong way. You can't get back easily because you are also limited to a one tract mind. It can scarely help you back to God. Things that displace God do so fully with alcohol. I don't recommend drinking.

I see this a little when buzzed. I am sure it gets progressively worse when becoming drunk. Idols then have free reign then in your heart. This becomes much worse when you become addicted. Alcohol becomes an idol itself then. It may lighten the heart but to what end. Vanity? Drink, be merry for tomorrow you die. Let us find our Joy in God. Alcohol will hinder us. Yet, this becomes more true when considering what evils are unleashed by Alcohol, which are already in our hearts. Let us keep a mind to ask for grace when our hearts are prone to go astray like sheep. Alcohol is a dry wasteland in a wet marsh. It is not an oasis in the desert. Let us skip past this curiousity. Let us not be drawn close by its pull. Let us go on to greater things. Namely God. I don't plan on cooking with alcohol again. I don't plan on buying any more any time soon. I can see its allure but I shall not be filled with its idolatry. I will continue to drink it from time to time but hopefully not out of want or desire.