woe to those who squander today straining toward tomorrow: will we savor this gift called time? (continued)

An unexpected--but delicious--venue for a spiritual lesson: join me two decades ago at my first Chinese banquet in Hong Kong. 

Course after course after course (I think there were 12 in all) I couldn't identify any course that was just a filler, just an appetizer, just something to get through, to get past, to get on with the main course which wasn't here yet...but it was coming...

Every course--in presentation, taste, texture--bore the marks of a master chef. Then it finally occurred to me: the reason no course seemed like a filler was because no course was a filler. To the master chef who had prepared this banquet especially for us, each course was main.