God’s Nourishment
by Rob Rawls
I am trying to correct my relationship with food.
I’m not talking about dieting or about understanding that an order of large fries and a pint of cookie dough ice cream won’t make me feel whole. I am talking about trying to correct my understanding of what food is, where it comes from, and how I should enjoy it. I want to remember that food isn’t just something that gets microwaved for three minutes or something that I ordered thirty minutes ago and where is that waiter anyway?…
It is easy for me to say that God gives us food to nourish us–physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s really hard to live that out, though. A few weeks ago, I realized that I never say a blessing before eating a meal. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to remember to thank God for the food–but I always forget. I don’t really think that it clicks in my head that each meal truly is a gift from God.
For Lent, I am taking on intentional eating. I will try to eat in such a way that I become aware of God’s presence in my life and in the lives of the people who played a part in getting that food to my plate.
In her book Mudhouse Sabbath, author Lauren Winner talks about missing kosher observance after converting to Christianity from Orthodox Judaism. She writes,
“Because I kept kosher (the word comes from the Hebrew for ‘fit’ or ‘appropriate’), I thought about the food I ate. I thought about what I was going to eat, and where I was going to procure it, and how I was going to prepare it. Eating was never obvious. Food required intention.”
That is what I want my Lenten journey to be… I want food to require intention.
Because I enjoy a little legalism here and there, here are the parameters I’ve set for myself this Lent:
I want my food to be ethical. I don’t want the food I eat to come from the suffering of other people or animals. I have played at being a flexitarian before, but now I am trying not to eat any meat at all. I’m also looking for ways to buy food that doesn’t come from corporations that are careless about the environment or their employees.
I want my food to be real. I am trying to avoid processed food and to take a look at the ingredient list of everything I buy. (For Fat Tuesday, I bought a bottle of Coke and a bag of Doritos.)
I want my food to a pausing point in the day…not just another thing on my to do list. I am looking for vegetarian recipes and trying to plan out special meals with my partner and with friends.
Most of all, I’m just trying to remember to take a moment to be thankful for the nourishment that God provides.
Tags: Rob
February 24th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Rob…I love how you are treating food this Lent. I have been lukewarm about what I’m doing/giving up for lent. After really chewing on last week scripture (no pun intended) I realized I was letting my relationship with food get in the way with my relationship with God. I’ve decided to try to cut out senseless eating. The tickler to this idea was reflecting on the first temptation Jesus was faced with in the wilderness, turning that stone into bread. Come on! Jesus had to be hungry. Besides, no one was around, why NOT? I thought…DUH, this is what I do all the time. A cookie here, a Hershey’s kiss there…no one will care…or notice, and besides, I’m HUNGRY – or am I just tempted? Although you are really taking it to more serious lengths, I like you’re food commitments
you have given me something to think about 
March 1st, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Your entry caught my attention because I just watched the movie Food Inc. this weekend and read Michael Pollan’s new book Food Rules. Perhaps you are familiar with both already, but I’d highly recommend them — particularly the movie. Really fits in with what you’re trying to do.