June 21, 2007
Bless This Snack...
On my kitchen counter was one big piece of leftover cake. I thought it was too large for one serving, but to small for two servings if it were cut it in half. I was home alone so it was easy to justify eating the whole thing by calling it lunch. It’s not my practice to pray before eating snacks, but I do pray before meals. Bowing my head over the mega-sized piece of cake my prayer was interrupted by a conversation going off in my head, “You’re not really going to ask God to bless this to the nourishment of you body, are you?” I stumbled and fumbled trying to come up with words of thanksgiving for the bounty God had provided. While I enjoyed every bite of my cake-lunch, it did cause me to stop and think about how often I ask God to bless things I know aren’t always the best for me.
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Gail;
-----I am not one of the Lord’s great prayer warriors. I am so thankful for my prospect of enjoying eternal life within a community that truly loves one another in the presence of God Himself that my prayers hardly find time for other than giving thanks for His patience and mercy towards the despicable facets of my present character. His feeding of my physical presence, undeserving of even this twisted temporal life, gives me great cause for thanksgiving as well. And I do give thanks, either inwardly or outwardly, for whatever goes into my system.
-----Several years ago I regularly enjoyed the company of a friend who has since moved away. I never have felt any qualms about pausing at the table with my family to give thanks and ask blessings on the meal, even in restaurants, and neither did my friend and I. We met at the local pizza parlor one afternoon. Before we had completely settled in, the waitress had delivered the pitcher of beer we ordered to go with our pizza. We then took hold of each other’s hands, thanked the Lord for our upcoming meal and fellowship, and asked His blessings upon both. I still chuckle when I recall what that must have looked like.
-----But I do not chuckle in the least when I think of what it meant. “They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving because it is consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.” (I Tim 4:3-5) My friend and I are well founded in our belief and knowledge that it is the participation in evil which destroys us, not the partaking of a good beer at lunch. (Now, if it had been a bad beer, maybe we would have thought differently.) In the same way that pitcher of beer was not received for the purpose of carousing or drunkenness, your mega-size piece of cake, I am sure, was not received as the regular staple of your ongoing diet. I think God enjoys enjoyment, too. And sometimes simple enjoyment to the soul is more beneficial to us than a few handfuls of extra carbohydrates or barley hops. And that is something to be thankful for as well.
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