In week 12 of 52 weeks of gratefulness I give thanks for a meal.
It was nothing earth shattering or particularly special.
It was just a meal –fast food, at that.
But a little more than a decade ago, I suffered a devastating financial disaster.
Since then, I’ve been moving and navigating life like a bear is chasing me -running, evading on my worst days and rushing anxiously on my best.
Life was a scramble. I was always moving quickly to get to the next thing.
I remember one of the lowest days of my life was when I was picking up my dearly beloved son from elementary school. He was moving at a casual, carefree pace and I yelled, yes yelled unlovingly and angrily, “Would you come on here?!”
I’m so sorry.
I hadn’t really been living, not enjoying anything, rather just trying to survive.
I didn’t even enjoy food. I ate without really tasting it. All I wanted to do was get energy and end the hunger.
But on this particular day, I felt free to put the demands of the world aside and enjoyed my meal in contemplative silence.
No phone. No laptop. No work. No ministry.
Just me, a plastic fork and food on a paper plate.
I took time to register the textures, the flavors, the smell.
I ate it slowly, enjoying every morsel and thanking God for every bite.
I say it wasn’t earth shattering but, maybe it was.
Whatever it was, I enjoyed it.
I’m thankful.
#52WoG
