Food

Food … for the body and for the spirit.  How much we take for granted in our abundant lives.  For most of us we have a never-ending supply of food on our tables … and so far, there is a never-ending supply in our stores.  Our physical bodies require food if we are to survive; it provides energy for our muscles (like the heart!) and our brains (hmmm).  Without food we would cease to survive in eight to twelve weeks.  We are physical human beings and food is an absolute necessity for our life. 

So we plan our menus and shop for groceries so that we can provide healthy, nutritious meals for our families thereby ensuring that we and they have the necessary nutrients to face our days and accomplish whatever we set our hands to do.

In the same way our spirit needs food if we are to survive and grow spiritually.  There is a never-ending supply of spiritual food available to us as well, but do we make it a priority to search it out and partake of it?  God has made available to us His own Word as food for our souls to enrich our lives and show us how to live in a way that will bring us joy and peace and glory to Him. 

Why do we instinctively know that we require physical food but do not have that same instinct toward our spiritual needs?  The physical is real to us – we get a headache, our stomach growls to let us know it’s empty, our blood sugar drops and we get a bit shakey and lightheaded … we just don’t feel very good.  But what about our spiritual barometer … do we notice when we’ve lost a bit of our joy, when our mood is dark, our temper is short, our patience is thin?  We need to be as aware of these signs of spiritual hunger as we are of our physical hunger.  And we need to make time to feed ourselves from our spiritual pantry in the same way that we regularly feed ourselves from our kitchen pantry.  

May all your meals be blessed!  Ann