The Royal Treatment

This past weekend Mary and I were able to attend one of the Market Street Cooking School events featuring the Royal Chef – Darren McGrady. In the world of cooking Darren is one of the most talented chefs on the planet and his presentation was informative, inspiring and hilarious. For those who do not know, Darren was once the chef for t he Queen of England and he was also the personal chef to Diana, Princess of Wales until her death. The food which he prepared for the class was definitely some of the best food I have eaten in my life.

One of the things which stood out in Darren’s presentation and preparation of the food is the sense you feel in the room that he is preparing your food in much the same way he would prepare a meal for the Queen. Every detail was so important to him right down to making sure the food was plated perfectly.

During our experience Darren was asked if he would be willing to move back to England and cook for the Royal Family again. He quickly said no at least not full time. He went on to explain that he did not cook for the Queen for the money because the money was not that good. He cooked for the Queen for the honor of serving the Queen of England.

Here is a question for you to consider, what is your motivation for doing whatever it is you do each day? Is it merely for the money? Fame? To pay the bills or put food on the table? Do you do what you do in a cheerful way being happy to serve or work in your capacity? For those of us who are Americans we don’t have a King or Queen to serve and we will most likely never get called to serve a President, but should our service to others or our work be any less than our best?

For those who are Christ followers the daily call to serve our neighbor as if we were serving the Lord should be foremost in our mind. Think about it…what if you and I went about our work as if we were working for Jesus Christ? What if the quality of our service or our work was always at the level of near perfection as if the person we were serving or the boss we were working for was our Lord and Savior? In a very real way that is what you and I are called to do in our daily walk as a Christ follower.

Darren said one more thing that impressed me,(and I’m paraphrasing) “it is not just the fact you want to please the Queen it is the fact that your attitude reflects the fact that you want to please the Queen”. So here is your Monday morning attitude check… read Philippians 2:5-8 and make you day one of cheerful service to the King!

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Love God. Go Love Others.