About a month ago, I went to Europe for the first time ever! I spent two weeks traipsing through Spain (Barcelona & Madrid), and Italy (Rome , Florence, Tuscany, Sienna, Venice) . Since returning back home, everyone keeps asking me about my favorite part of the trip, and what I liked most. And sure, I know the generic answer should be something along the lines of “oh well La Sagrada Familia was just breathtaking”, and “The Sistine Chapel was so mesmerizing that I blacked out briefly and a guard had to take a break between saying “no photos, no videos” to help me”, or “The David was sensational, I spent 30 minutes just contemplating how you could possibly take an undesirable piece of marble and carve in such real looking veins on a hand! “. But instead my answer has been “When I was in Italy, I ate gelato everyday, if not twice a day, and it was stupendous!"
That’s right folks. That was the
highlight of my trip, because I was just expecting ice cream masked in a fancy
Italian name. But oh no, there was a continuous party in my mouth, so much so
that I am on a mission today to explain to you that not only is gelato
different from ice cream, but it is SO MUCH BETTER!
Have you ever come across this
situation in other aspects of your life? Where you saw two things that on the
surface seemed identical, but just had a different name? What about happiness
and joy? Are they the same? Is joy just a fancier way to describe happiness? In
short, no. Here's why. Ice Cream : Happiness as Gelato: Joy. In case it’s been awhile since taking
SAT verbal section, let’s quickly unpack this analogy and explain once and for
all why Gelato > Ice Cream and Joy >Happiness .
#1 Better Ingredients =
better for you
Gelato: As you can see
in the chart below, gelato not only has less sugar (including Nutella) and less
fat (cream) than ice cream, but also tastes richer and creamier than ice
cream because it contains egg yolks!
Joy: The
ingredients for joy are simple and inexpensive whereas the ingredients for
happiness are complex and expensive. With happiness, it is created as a
byproduct of favorable circumstances (going on vacation, getting a promotion,
watching a funny movie, front row tickets to see Redskins play, or buying the
iPhone4). With joy, however, there aren’t endless ingredients, but instead just
one: The Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11-12; Galatians 5:22; 1 Thessalonians 1:6). The
Holy Spirit is able to produce joy in a person because the Holy Spirit actively
lives inside all people who have accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and
Savior. (1 Corinthians 3:16, Romans 8:9, Ephesians 1:13-14, John 14:16-17)
#2 Better Process
(Doesn’t Require Addition of External Items)
Gelato: Gelato, unlike
ice cream, doesn’t need to resort to relying on adding external items (ex. Air)
during the freezing process. Instead, gelato is just inherently awesome stand
alone, and thus can allow the ingredients ALONE to work their magic during the
freezing process. Many ice cream
producers try and produce better products by experiment adding different
amounts of air (20%-50%) to make
the product lighter and possibly more desirable to consumers. Little do they
know that they can never outsmart gelato, whose process results in a more
dense, more intense flavor product every day of the week!
Joy: Without air you don’t have ice
cream, and without favorable circumstances you can’t have happiness. Think
about how easily happiness can disappear when circumstances are changed
slightly (i.e. food poisoning on vacation, longer hours as a result of
promotion, choking on popcorn during funny movie, ref recalling final Redskins
touch down, iPhone 4 dropping calls mid intense convo with your significant
other).
In contrast, without air you still have
gelato and without favorable circumstances you can still have joy. We know
joy can withstand crummy circumstances because in the Bible, many characters
are recorded as experiencing joy in the midst of suffering..."We rejoice
in our sufferings." Romans 5:3, "You received the word in much
affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit." Thessalonians 1:6, "In
a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty
have over flowed in a wealth of liberality."2 Corinthians 8:2... In fact,
Paul, who underwent beatings, imprisonments, sleepless nights, hunger, and
countless other types of suffering, described himself as "sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet
possessing everything." 2 Corinthians 6:10.
#3 Creates an Experience
Worth Sharing
Gelato: When was the last time you asked someone how their weekend
was and they replied with "Well I got some ice cream this past
weekend!"? I'm guessing almost never... Why? Because it's on par with
saying you did laundry, pumped gas, surfed the Internet, or brushed your teeth.
No one wants to hear about the mundane, ordinary, and routine parts of your
life. But an experience with Gelato is worth sharing! Who wouldn’t want to hear
about the rich creamy texture of the Nutella flavored ice cream that melted in
my mouth??…Who wouldn’t want to hear about the fresh and intensely flavored Mango
Gelato that led me to an internal struggle over a 2nd serving when my
mind was telling me no, but my
bod-eeee was telling me yeahhh-he-heh.
Joy: Yes we tell our
friends every now and then about how we bought a new car and it made us happy,
but it’s not front page headlines. But what newspaper wouldn’t want to
report about a time when a person, in spite of all the terrible circumstances
surrounding them, was able to experience joy? The Bible certainly did,
check out what the apostle Paul went through
"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. " 2 Corinthians 11:24-28
So did Paul still have joy in spite
of this? Yes…
“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:10-13
The reason this makes for such an interesting news story it that it is very counter-intuitive that
joy can be present and increase in the midst of circumstances… so what’s the
secret? How can we experience joy and not have to settle for happiness? As I’ve
already alluded to, you have to be on Team God to even have access to joy.
Secondly, you need to understand that joy is deeply rooted in hope. “May the
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you
may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13. I’ll try
and address this idea of hope in a future post.
In the mean time, do yourself a
favor and create some happiness for yourself by indulging in some delicious
gelato. If you live in the DC area, I recommend going to Bocatto in Clarendon. If you live in NYC, go
to Grom.
If you want the world's best gelato, I
recommend traveling to Italy and going to Giolitti’s
in Rome or Pluripremiata
Gelateria in Tuscany.
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