Food

As the smell of sausage lentil soup wafts through the house, I cannot help but thank You for food. Thank You for the way it smells when it's cooking. Thank You that You gave us taste buds to enjoy it. Thank You that eating together brings families and friends together. Thank You that eating brings us pleasure. Thank You that You supply energy to our bodies by something so enjoyable as eating.

Thank You for the many different kinds of foods that we get to enjoy. Thank You for the different ways that different cultures fix food, and for the new ways we learn to fix it.

Thank You for the rainbow of colors You gave us in food. Orange carrots and oranges, red peppers and tomatoes, yellow squash and lemons, green broccoli and spinach, purple eggplant and grapes, blue potatoes and berries, brown rice and meat, white potatoes and cauliflower, and black seaweed and beans. Putting multiple colors on the plate not only pleases the eye, but You put different nutrients in each of the different colors. Thank You for making nourishment so pretty.

Yet, Lord, not everyone has enough food. Tonight homeless people scrounge through garbage cans trying to find something to calm their hunger pangs. Orphans and widows in various parts of the world wonder whether there will be food tomorrow. Beggars hope they received enough money to be able to go home at night and have something to eat. Even in rich countries, there are poor who go to bed at night hungry.

Lord, forgive us for complaining when we do not like the food we have. Forgive us for forgetting to be thankful for every bite that we receive. Forgive us for not praying for those who go to bed hungry and who waste away from a lack of food. Tonight we ask that You would provide this most basic need for them.

Thank You, Jesus, that when You walked this earth, You knew how important food was, and You fed the multitudes. Thank You, that in addition to being the giver of good food, You have given us Yourself. Even though food is SO satisfying, it is nothing compared to knowing You. Thank You for satisfying our soul hunger by being the Bread of Life.

Amen.


Photos: First one, lentil soup. Second was a special dinner of Beef Wellington that we made for Valentine's day.