Broccoli and Brain Food

One of my favorite pop culture moments happened when the crafts tycoon Martha Stewart made an appearance on CBS's The Early Show in 2002. At the time, Stewart was under intense public scrutiny because of allegations that she had cheated the public by fraudulently trading stocks.

During the cooking segment of that show, Stewart was shredding lettuce when one of the hosts started to aggressively question her about her legal troubles. As the tension on the set rose, Stewart awkwardly continued mixing fruits and vegetables. The host would not relent, but Stewart eventually performed a brilliant evasive maneuver by cutting the host off and then delivering the now famous line, "I just want to focus on my salad." Everyone was stunned, and Stewart was temporarily off the hook as the hosts tried to process her remark.

Even though she would later be found guilty of the charges, I've always liked her quote because, first, it's hilarious and also because it touches on a concept that I really like, which is finding peace and refuge in a hobby.

For Martha Stewart, there was shalom in making a salad.

Now, I'm not trying to argue that it's acceptable for people to suppress the truth or to escape reality; however, I believe that there are legitimate situations when people should block out the rest of the world and simply enjoy a hobby.

In my life, there have been times when I was intensely struggling with something -- from physical trials to unrequited "love" -- and I felt like my entire existence was being hijacked by my problem, despite my best efforts to resist. No matter how hard I tried to focus on God, his Word, his goodness and his promises, I couldn't stop myself from being consumed by my own sin-tainted thoughts and worries. Yet I've learned that one of the ways that God has comforted me during those hard times was by blessing me with the opportunity to do a hobby I love such as building Legos or playing hockey, which provided me with some much needed mental relief.

I think a lot of people would say that some of their favorite hobbies actually require very little brain power too. When you're doing them, your instincts take over and you don't even have to think -- or at least not very hard. There's freedom in that. You're having fun and you don't even know it.

As magnificent as the human mind is, with its power to create massive fictional worlds and its ability to process incredibly complex ideas, it is also vulnerable to going haywire. For me, when I'm under stress and I allow my thoughts to wander freely, it can get ugly. That's when I need my "mindless" fun!

I think the Apostle Paul experienced the blessing of hobbies too. While it's clear from his writing that Paul was a very intelligent and highly educated man who could debate philosophy, law and ethics with the best of them, Paul was also someone who worked with his hands as a tent maker (Acts 18:3).

I'm sure there were times when Paul was in the midst of a crazy trial -- such as persecution -- but in spite of that was still able to find moments when he would think about nothing else except for one simple task: building a tent. Maybe one time his friend was pestering him about preparing rebuttals for certain arguments against the gospel that they would hear at the synagogue the next day, and Paul responded with something along the lines of, "Honestly, I'm just focused on cutting this fabric right now. Hand me that knife please."

Does this mean that Paul was ignoring God or distracting himself from his true mission? No, in fact, I believe he was glorifying God through his work, which rejuvenated him and in turn prepared him for other kingdom work. When Paul finished a high-quality tent, I think God would have said -- though maybe not explicitly -- "well done good and faithful servant."

It's a beautiful thing how God has given every person certain interests and desires that can serve as their outlets in difficult times. Because of that blessing, someone can say, "Yeah, the divorce is getting really messy but I'm going to go practice organ now because I'm playing at service tomorrow." Or someone can say, "I'll deal with that after I'm done sailing." For those people, it's nice to momentarily live in a peaceful world shrunk down to the size of their crafts.

These days, I do have some things that are weighing heavily on me, and I know that I need to get in the Word and pray while "girding up the loins of my mind." (1 Peter 1:13). But I also need to remind myself that when I go to lunch and get to the salad bar, I have to remember Martha Stewart's quip, to put all my trying circumstances aside, and to just enjoy myself and "focus on my salad."