Jo Trickey writes on 'Lessons from the anti-food waste app'. ‘Too Good to Go’ bags have brought me so much joy over the last few weeks. A fab little app allows you to see where restaurants and cafes anticipate having excess food at the end of the day and take it off their hands for a mere snippet of its RRP.
I’ve been reflecting on what it is that I love about these bags of food. I think they hit the sweet spot in three places.
This article is from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity section on Connecting with Culture.
First, the literal sweet spot: I have an excuse to eat the delicious pastries from my favourite café. Fortunately for my waistline, they don’t come up every day!
Second, the cost is extraordinary. I get eight filled croissants and cakes for the price of one.
Third – and this is probably strongest for me – the service truly ticks the box of being a good thing. It’s good for the planet, reducing our food waste; good for the shopkeeper, providing more money for local businesses; and good for our wider culture, promoting the waste-not-want-not approach we need to look after our planet.
How joyful is that?
Joy is a funny thing. I know life isn’t perfect, that I can never achieve that ever-elusive state of bliss or live in a utopia – but there’s something in me that really wants to. I want life to be like other people’s highlight reels, rather than peppered with stubbed toes and food I’ve accidentally left in the fridge too long.
But strangely, that desire for a perfect life often leaves me more like the three-day-old croissant than the freshly baked cronut. When I try to make life all about my own joy, the joy eventually seeps away.
When I place my joy in Jesus rather than a bargain, my stomach, or my own sense of satisfaction, by contrast, there’s something wonderful to be found. Someone wonderful to be found. He is too good to miss. Jesus says of us that we are ‘too good to go’, too good to be thrown away, worth saving, even at great cost. His joy is in us and our joy is in him.
Knowing his love brings the joy described in Galatians 5:22 as a fruit of the Spirit, a joy that doesn’t depend on our situation but on Jesus’ love. What a wonderful gift to us and to those around us. Today is given to us to enjoy, enjoying Jesus and bring joy to the places we go and people we meet.
Jo Trickey is Church Advocate at LICC
This article is from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity section on Connecting with Culture.