Gratitude

When I watch us eat, I sometimes wonder if we said the blessing.  Oh, I know we say a most sufficient table blessing on Thanksgiving and other times when the larger extended family gathers, but I wonder about those meals I see us eating with two or three big bites on the way to somewhere that is surely more important than eating.  Too many of us have forgotten that meals are to be enjoyed and not just devoured.  The way we eat so many of our hurried meals hardly speaks of an attitude of thanksgiving "for the food we are about to eat."  Neither does it speaks of thanks "for the hands that have prepared it."

 

Some years ago I read an author who suggested that we have not really expressed gratitude for the food we eat until we take a leisurely moment to look back down the food chain and see those who have brought it to our table.  As we glance back we are likely to see someone on hands and knees working in the dirt.  If we are not careful we may miss the people who rise early in the morning and come back after dark to make sure the cows are milked so we can enjoy all those dairy products.  The food we eat is touched by farmers, food processers, truck drivers, warehouse workers, grocery store clerks and a host of people who spend long days getting some food to folks like you and me.

 

It seems like such ingratitude to devour a meal without giving any thought to the real cost of eating it.  We simply are a take it for granted consumer society.  We have a right to our bread and chicken fingers. How it gets to us and how many go to bed at night exhausted because of their labors is no concern of ours.  All we want is our food and we want it now.  A grateful heart is good for the stomach.  "Lord, have mercy. Forgive me for thinking it is all about me.  Amen."