Lagniappe

Let’s just go ahead and get this out of the way, right up front. If you are going to be around me you are going to have to tolerate my obsession with and love of all things related to Louisiana. At first it will be intriguing, "YOU love New Orleans? Really? Why?" Then it will be endearing, "I love how much you love Louisiana, you make me want to know more about it." Ultimately it will become annoying, "No Brandon, I DO NOT want to know why they call the median 'neutral ground' and I couldn't care less who serves the best cochon de lait po boy...and what in the world is a cochon de lait po boy...you know what, never mind, I'm sorry I even asked."

I'm pretty sure that I am suffering from a very rare, yet undiagnosed, mental illness that compels me to believe that I am, in fact, a New Orleanian. Thankfully, it is a harmless affliction, but it can be annoying. I'm telling you this now because today's devotional is going to be an exploration of my favorite Louisiana word: lagniappe.

I first encountered this strange word when I was a pre-teen, vacationing with my friend Brandon and his family in Destin, Florida. One night we dined at a restaurant in the Destin Harbor named Louisiana Lagniappe, which I horribly butchered with my Tennessee twang, mispronouncing it “Lag Knee Opp.” The word is pronounced lan-yap. Embarrasingly, this is not my greatest French faux pas. You should have heard the laughter from my Louisiana friends when I butchered the name of the restaurant Tujague’s on my first trip to New Orleans (it is pronounced two-jacks, not two-ja-goos).

If you haven't changed the channel on me yet you are clearly still in the "intriguing" stage. Lagniappe comes from the Spanish "la napa" (the gift) and made its way into French in Louisiana somewhere around 1849. Mark Twain said of the word, "We picked up one excellent word -- a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get; a nice, limber, expressive, handy word -- 'lagniappe.'" (Mark Twain, "Life on the Mississippi," 1883). Basically the word means "a little something extra or special, a gift, something for nothing." Around these parts we have a different expression that basically means the same thing: to boot. "If you buy this car I'll throw in a year of free oil changes to boot." You didn't pay for it, I don't owe it to you, but I'm giving it to you anyway as a kindness.

In Louisiana, you might get your first taste of lagniappe when buying a ten piece shrimp dinner and find the cook gave you twelve. The extra two are lagniappe, a little something extra. It's funny how much of a difference there is in our attitudes when we get a little something extra, compared to when we feel we aren't getting what we are owed. The distance between entitlement and gratitude is a mile wide.

As an only child, I have been accused of being spoiled by my mother and grandmother. My usual reply is that I am not spoiled, but I am greatly loved. The difference between being loved and being spoiled boils down to gratitude versus expectation. If you are grateful to be catered to you are loved. If you expect to be catered to you are as spoiled as month old milk.

When Jesus first encountered the men who became His apostles most of their lives were heading nowhere fast. Four of them were failed fishermen (seriously, they only caught fish when the carpenter told them where to cast) and one of them was a despised tax collector; financially his life was a great success, but everyone hated him. Within a couple of years they were a part of a movement that was garnering national attention and regularly surrounded by thousands of people who had a tendency to shout things like, "Hosanna to the King, blessed be the son of David." Apparently this sort of thing started going to their heads.

Near the end of their three years with Jesus, these Bad News Bears of believers had let things go to their heads and they began strutting around Galilee like they were the New York Yankees. The attitudes that once prompted statements like, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" have been replaced with arguments over who was the greatest among them (Luke 9:46). Some of them even got their mama in on the ploy for positioning, having her ask if her sons could sit on the right and left hand of Jesus when He came into His kingdom. In this scene these "Sons of Thunder" act more like mama's boys. They remind me of the character Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. "Mommy I WANT A THRONE. I WANT to sit beside Jesus in His kingdom!" Talk about spoiled.

These disciples, who are practically getting themselves fitted for their new royal robes, will betray, deny, and abandon Jesus at the first sign of trouble. Their initial joy and gratitude in being allowed to participate in the ministry of Jesus had quickly turned into a spoiled sense of entitlement. In the beginning they were praying for their daily bread and by the end they were picking out the padding for their thrones. They liked the idea of being the best friend of the King and were looking forward to all the perks of privilege.

Have we crossed the threshold from privileged to entitled? Are we spiritually spoiled, complaining when we should be giving thanks? I was personally convicted by a Facebook post I saw recently, reminding me: you are not STUCK at home, you are SAFE at home. The difference is between being content and having contempt. Have we adopted the attitude of Paul who said, "But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content...As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." (1 Timothy 6:6-8,17-19).

Paul preached this because Paul practiced this. "I have learned to be content in all situations. I know how to be hungry and I know how to be full" (Philippians 4:11-12). There was a time when Paul wanted more than he'd been given, but by being humbled he learned to be grateful for what he had. "So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

What do we deserve? What are we owed? "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 3:23). But what do we get instead? "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The gift of God. The gift.....la napa....lagniappe, is Jesus Christ, Who said, "I am come that you might have life and [a little something extra] that you might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

Here's a little something extra for today: "Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God" (Proverbs 30:7-9).