Helping at food banks and making meals for the needy. Sources of Food are very near and dear to my heart. At one point in my life I lost my job and needed some assistance putting food on the table.
To honor the gift of food, I remember what I learned as a child: give thanks first, don’t take more than you need, and enjoy and finish all that you’ve taken!
Pause for a moment before eating, honoring the gift in front of me, silently giving thanks to the many people who had worked to make it possible and to the source of it all.
Ah yes, so true. Gratitude for sustenance
is so important. As usual, I will attempt
to be aware and present while enjoying
the food that is so easily overlooked and
taken for granted.
My neighbor made me some granola,
yesterday, as a gift for taking care of a
few projects around her house. I love this.
This kind of exchange makes me so happy.
I lived on a small farm in Louisiana for many years and the wild dewberries and huckleberries were plentiful. I made cobblers and pies and sometimes just ate them raw. We also planted a strawberry patch and tended a large vegetable garden every year. We cooperated with Mother Nature and shared the bounty the planet delivered to us. Today’s question brings warm memories of that bounty but also is a stark reminder of all the people who are physically and emotionally starving because we build bombs instead of bridges while Mother Earth weeps. Death and starvation occurring in Haiti, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria. Tent cities filled with refuges from all over the planet, unaccompanied children arriving at our southern border, etc., etc. The list is endless.
In 2009, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a book called “An Altar in the World” in which she urges us to forsake our tribal mentality and become altars in the world..tables that invite all to come and sit, to care and share. I find gratefulness.org a place where these altars flourish. May the mission of this internet site flourish and every morsel of food for thought it lovingly shares plant seeds of gratefulness in our minds and hearts, giving us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may be healed and be willing to heal our planet.
Thank you so much for your reflection, Carol. So many hungry and oppressed people of our world. The fear that some have of migrants baffles me. The hardship’s they have endued to cross land or seas like the Mediterranean to leave homelands under duress in search of a better life goes unnoticed to those who fear them.
After reading this question I paused to savor the next sip of coffee, hot in my cup, and think about how far it has traveled and the many processes and hands along the way. Sunlight, water, and earth are all in my cup! That will be true of everything I eat today. I’m about to make breakfast with bread I baked that includes regionally grown wheat and eggs from a neighbor’s “farmette” stand.
At the farmers’ market my husband and I go to each week we often thank the farmer/vendors. My husband’s line is often a simple “Thank you for being here.” Ever since the pandemic we don’t take it for granted that someone can show up and sell us food. I enjoy asking them about vegetables I haven’t had before if they have time to discuss. It’s clear they all love the land and the bounty it produces for all of us.
Like EEEVVV said, I try not to waste food whenever I can. It’s my little way of showing respect to both God and the planet for giving me all this food. Plus, I think about how some people out there don’t have anything to eat, so it feels good to do my part.
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take a pause and say thanks
I don’t waste any but I was taught not to by a spiritual teacher not my idea 😜 now I cringe at food wasters
I understand accidents happen but some systems are based on waste
It helps to only be concerned with how one can live more sustainably on their side of the street I am thinking
Helping at food banks and making meals for the needy. Sources of Food are very near and dear to my heart. At one point in my life I lost my job and needed some assistance putting food on the table.
To honor the gift of food, I remember what I learned as a child: give thanks first, don’t take more than you need, and enjoy and finish all that you’ve taken!
Pause for a moment before eating, honoring the gift in front of me, silently giving thanks to the many people who had worked to make it possible and to the source of it all.
I can eat more slowly and savor my food.
Ah yes, so true. Gratitude for sustenance
is so important. As usual, I will attempt
to be aware and present while enjoying
the food that is so easily overlooked and
taken for granted.
My neighbor made me some granola,
yesterday, as a gift for taking care of a
few projects around her house. I love this.
This kind of exchange makes me so happy.
Yes, Charlie well prepared food is always a welcome exchange.
Be grateful and give thanks .
I lived on a small farm in Louisiana for many years and the wild dewberries and huckleberries were plentiful. I made cobblers and pies and sometimes just ate them raw. We also planted a strawberry patch and tended a large vegetable garden every year. We cooperated with Mother Nature and shared the bounty the planet delivered to us. Today’s question brings warm memories of that bounty but also is a stark reminder of all the people who are physically and emotionally starving because we build bombs instead of bridges while Mother Earth weeps. Death and starvation occurring in Haiti, Ukraine, Gaza, Syria. Tent cities filled with refuges from all over the planet, unaccompanied children arriving at our southern border, etc., etc. The list is endless.
In 2009, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a book called “An Altar in the World” in which she urges us to forsake our tribal mentality and become altars in the world..tables that invite all to come and sit, to care and share. I find gratefulness.org a place where these altars flourish. May the mission of this internet site flourish and every morsel of food for thought it lovingly shares plant seeds of gratefulness in our minds and hearts, giving us eyes to see and ears to hear so that we may be healed and be willing to heal our planet.
Amen!
Thank you so much for your reflection, Carol. So many hungry and oppressed people of our world. The fear that some have of migrants baffles me. The hardship’s they have endued to cross land or seas like the Mediterranean to leave homelands under duress in search of a better life goes unnoticed to those who fear them.
After reading this question I paused to savor the next sip of coffee, hot in my cup, and think about how far it has traveled and the many processes and hands along the way. Sunlight, water, and earth are all in my cup! That will be true of everything I eat today. I’m about to make breakfast with bread I baked that includes regionally grown wheat and eggs from a neighbor’s “farmette” stand.
At the farmers’ market my husband and I go to each week we often thank the farmer/vendors. My husband’s line is often a simple “Thank you for being here.” Ever since the pandemic we don’t take it for granted that someone can show up and sell us food. I enjoy asking them about vegetables I haven’t had before if they have time to discuss. It’s clear they all love the land and the bounty it produces for all of us.
Thank you for this question.
Bless it before eating and be grateful and truly savor each bite along the way.
Today’s question immediately surfaced a response..to eat more slowly & mindfully today.
Like EEEVVV said, I try not to waste food whenever I can. It’s my little way of showing respect to both God and the planet for giving me all this food. Plus, I think about how some people out there don’t have anything to eat, so it feels good to do my part.
Appreciate it. Share it. Create with it. Celebrate with it. Do not waste it.
I should say a prayer of thanks before I eat my meals.