In one of our services, recently, I spoke about the "stuff" that's in the stuff we buy at the grocery store. So many times, we look at the pretty label and grab it right off the shelf without really knowing what all is inside. The example I used was a jar of queso dip. I love queso, but when I looked a little closer at the ingredients on the label of my favorite brand, I was amazed. Right there, first one listed, in plain English was the clincher... "cheese FLAVORED mix".
I have to be honest, here... the "cheese flavored" part didn't bother me a whole lot... it was the MIX part that unsettled me. Mix of what? What kind of mix? Now I don't know about you, but I've got to be honest... THAT bothered me.
Maybe I'm just being a little too persnickety about it. No one in their right mind, just by looking at me, would ever guess that I might be particular about what I ingest. No... I'm not fat... I'm just fluffy! And as a rule, us fluffy people aren't usually what people classify as picky eaters. Personally, I've never been accused of being picky about what I eat... but... cheese flavored mix??!! I don't know.
That got me to thinking about ingredients found in a lot of stuff. I just thought I'd share with you SOME of what I found... ENJOY!
Jelly Beans... who doesn't like jelly beans? They're kind of like on the top ten of American candies. Everybody knows they've got enough sugar power the lunar rover, but do you know what else they've got in 'em? Most jelly beans get their hard shiny surface from SHELLAC. Shellac made from the secretions of an insect known as "Laccifer Lacca". They live in trees and they coat the branches of the trees with this secretion. The trees are harvested and the secretions that coat the branches is refined. Not the branches themselves... just the junk that coats them. Voila... shellac.
Ladies... you're gonna love this one. Skin Cream. You know, that high dollar stuff you make the special trip to the cosmetic store to pick up that will rejuvenate your skin and smooth out those unsightly wrinkles, giving your face a younger healthier look. Bet you didn't know this. One of the MAIN ingredients found in almost all skin cream is human placenta. Yep... human afterbirth. The large cosmetic manufacturing firms have contracts in place with large hospitals. One particular Beverly Hills based company gets it's supply exclusively from Russian maternity wards.
Chewing Gum... That wonderful invention of Mr. Wrigley back in the early 1900's that today's marketers will assure you, that it will keep your breath fresh and clean for hours. I mean, come on... who doesn't like gum?... right? Most brands still use "castoreum" to enhance the flavor of the gum. What they DON'T tell you is that castoreum is produced only in the anal glands of beavers. Gee... I really didn't want to know that.
Speaking of clean fresh breath... Toothpaste; that product we all depend on daily for oral hygiene, contains "dicalcium phosphate". It's an abrasive agent made from the bones of mammals that chew their cud; like cattle, sheep, and goats. Anybody besides me know how nasty goats are?
And finally, what would have to be my favorite on this list... Perfume. Perfume contains a fixative agent, (that means it helps it stick to where you smear it), called "Skatole". Skatole is a white, crystalline organic compound found in beets, coal tar, and... are you ready for this?... are you sure?... human feces. Yep... scientists say that it is the Skatole that gives poop it's distinctive odor. Kind of adds a whole new dimension to that $100 an ounce, french perfume, doesn't it?
Well, as odd... maybe disgusting would be a better adjective... anyway, as odd as all this sounds, it's not as far out in left field as we might first think. I mean, consider this for just a minute. Think about our lives. Think about what makes us who we really are. Think about what has influenced us in ways that shape us and mold us and give us our character.
Some of the most successful people you'll ever meet, are people who've failed miserably along the way. Some of the wealthiest people have known first-hand what it feels like to be flat broke. Some of the happiest people on the planet have been through some of the most heart breaking, gut wrenching, and yes... saddest of times. The friendliest people you can think of are probably people who've been rejected, scorned and often times, discarded by others. Some of the happiest couples have been through the toughest of times... but they went through it together. Some of the best marriages have suffered through some of the harshest of trials.
Some of these ingredients in our lives, when isolated and examined, are unpleasant, unsightly, and unseemly to talk about or even think about. But when they are so thoroughly mixed in with the rest of our make up and our influences that they no longer are distinguishable as separate parts... they literally enhance who we are... improve who we are... and become a viable part of our make up.
And if we'd be honest about it, who among us wouldn't be a little better off with a little more fixative agent in our make up... but not THAT kind.
Hey... It's Just A Thought.
Pastor Eddy
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