Ti gou

 Ti gou is a creole phrase that means “a little taste”.Like the expression, just a taste - I just want a little taste. "Just give me something to hold me over. I just want to whet my appetite." 

I have dog. Actually, it’s my wife’s dog, I pay for his food. His name is Buddy. Typical, boring, is that all you could come up with? name. My wife and I have a hard time coming up with names. Maybe it’s the commitment of it all. It’s not like you get a dog or have kids every week. Our daughter Bethy came home without a name. For like a week, she was baby girl Furcinitti. Which is really not such a bad name. “Hey, Baby-Girl, you want a ti gou?” Anyways, sometimes our dog won’t eat for a long time. His food will just sit there. We try to encourage him, and tell him to eat, but he acts rather disinterested in his full bowl sitting on the floor near his water. Sometimes, though, I’ve found, if I want him to eat, all I have to do is give him a taste of something good – a ti gou. And then, like magic, he realizes he’s hungry. Then he will eat. He just needed a ti gou; a little taste. Sometimes we’re that way with God. We spend extended time away from Him, reading the bible, singing to Him, spending time alone with Him. But what we don’t realize is happening is that we’re becoming hungry. Like the little child who is so involved in their toy, they don’t want to take the time to eat; or do anything else. They are busy with what has them occupied. I used to be that way with my Legos. I’d spend hours building things. Even though I had to use the bathroom very badly, I’d ignore that. I was into what I was doing and didn’t want to shift direction. Sometimes what we need from God is a small taste of His goodness; a drink of the refreshing water of His presence. A ti gou. And then, like a small flame to gasoline, our hunger is sparked and we realize how much we’ve missed Him; our taste buds are awakened, and we become oddly aware of why our disposition has been so poor; our attitude so rotten. We’ve been, as my vegetarian daughter Bethy is familiar with, “Hangry”. (That’s angry because we’re hungry, get it? Hungry and angry at the same time). Oh taste and see that the Lord is good. The scripture doesn’t say gorge and see that the Lord is good. It doesn’t instruct us to prepare a massive feast and see His goodness. Just taste. Ti gou. The Lord knows that all we need is a small taste to have our sense of His goodness rekindled. He requires only a small step, a snack, to awaken the hunger within. So, where do we find that treat, that inspiring goodie? Try a few minutes in the scripture. Or, how about a you tube video of your favorite Christian artist? A phone call with an encouraging Christian brother or sister? Or try this, reach out to your elderly neighbor – whatsoever you’ve done to the least of these. You can even remind yourself of His goodness in your life. You are blessed, you know. Or how about this - simply ask God to give you a small taste of Himself. We certainly have our daily intake of pressure, stress, negativity, and responsibilities, don’t we? More than a taste, I would say; more like a force feeding. What we need to fend off this diet of the world, of daily life's intake, is a shift. Just as it takes time to acquire a  taste for the healthy foods and lose our desire for the processed, fatty, heart-stopping food, so we need a taste of His goodness again and again until our spiritual taste buds begin to yearn for what is good for the soul. Fast food is fast, but it is bad for you. Good food takes time to prepare, but it is good for you. How about a shift? Just a taste, just a ti gou. That may be all you need to get on the road to health.