What is food? It's been described as fuel, nourishment, energy, etc. It's all those things. Mostly, to me, food is a gift. It's yet another way God reveals His marvel to us, His artistry to us, His care for us.
God gives us dirt, and colors, and beautiful foods to grow from His canvass: the Earth. He allows us to be partners with Him giving us the opportunity to plant and care for these things, while He provides sunshine and natural nutrients from His canvass.
Food comes from everywhere around us. It grows, it runs, it blooms. All these things are made dripping with succulent flavors. Crispy, chewy, beautiful, colorful, grainy, and satisfying. Food is an artistic necessity that involves all of our senses. Our bodies are temples, and we are image bearers of our God who provides for us such glorious ways to enjoy our fuel. This body is something I must take care of. To take care of my body is glorifying God in more ways than my mind can understand. To enjoy the nourishment that God has placed on this Earth for us to eat is glorifying to Him. To nourish our bodies, to enjoy our food, and to taste every flavor in our mouth, is glorifying to God.
When I eat I want the deepest colors and I want the richest flavors. I want to use my hands to make my food, and when I do I feel close to God. I feel like His partner in this creative process. He reveals to me how to better live life through mere enjoyment.
Food makes us use our hands. It helps us know our bodies. It brings community and satisfaction.
Eating is deeply spiritual. Knowing your body is deeply spiritual. Even knowing merely when you're hungry and when you're full, is spiritual.
This makes me think of the Eucharist, and how awesome it is. How I think there is so much more to taking the Eucharist than I understand, but I enjoy it nonetheless.
I think it's a travesty when communion is taken through packaged wafers and grape juice. There is something beautiful about bread that has been made by the kneading hands of His people which, in the Eucharist, represents Christ's body. There is something spiritual about a people drinking wine that has been grown and cared for and made by His creation, and holds so much significance in His Word. We bastardize it when we open our individual packages which came from a factory to take a not-so-holy communion.
I do understand, though, that God is bigger than a packaged wafer. He meet's us where we're at... even in our grape juice.
But why skimp if we don't have to? I want to glorify His Majesty in my every bite. He is worthy of kneading my own bread, and pouring my own wine. He is worthy of the extra time it takes to grow a garden, or create from scratch.
I have found such a great worship to my Lord in caring for myself, and glorifying Him through flavors and food.
Slow down. Make something rather than just opening a package. Cut your lettuce rather than buying it in a bag. See this amazing process. Let the sound of the knife on the cutting board add to the sensory experience of meal time.
Yeast, baking soda, salt. It's chemistry, it's art, and it's nourishment. Wow. What an amazing God to give all of this to us.
