Of course, at huge family gatherings I joined in on "blessing the food," and if one of the young children in the family wanted to say the blessing, we always stopped to hear their precious voices saying "God is great, God is good...." Still, I really don't make it a habit to stop and pray before my meals. Blame it on the fact that I eat in a cafeteria full of noisy students and only have 15 minutes to eat, or blame it on feeling uncomfortable bowing my head when others around me are not....
Truthfully, I try to live every moment of my life by my faith. Not praying at meals doesn't make me love God less or anyone else love Him more....but that's not really what this blog is about. It's about a random thought that I had today.
As I was riding to work, listening to the Christian radio station, I heard a mom talking about her little one saying "Grace" over the meal and chapping her little hands inviting God to join them. That caught my attention. Maybe I've been looking at meal time prayer all wrong. Maybe instead of some perfunctory habit of saying a memorized prayer, stopping to pray is actually inviting God to actively participate in my day. I can get pretty busy in a normal day...stopping to re-adjust my thoughts would be a good thing! Instead of waiting to the end of the day, I can check myself midway through the day. Sort of like checking in with the Father...making sure I'm still moving in the right direction. I know I love it when my kids "check in" with me. It is simply making that quick word or touch that helps keep us connected.
I know I probably won't start bowing my head in the cafeteria anytime soon, but I think maybe I will start taking the time on a more regular basis during my days to simply "check in"...to invite God to be a part of what is going on all around me...to ask Him to help me see things through HIS eyes. I want to make sure I check myself on a regular basis to see if I'm "saying Grace".....those words of love that acknowledge that God is directing me. I guess it's not just "saying" grace - it's speaking it to a world that needs to know His love.
Knowing me, I'll need re-adjusting often. Since I pretty much eat all day long I should have lots of opportunities to invite God to do whatever needs to be done. Besides, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have lunch with!
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Rev. 3:20
1 comment:
As far as bowing your head and closing your eyes, doesn't the Bible say to 'watch and pray'?
Thought you'd like that!
Once when Mama & I were at Waffle House in Laurel we got apple pie and vanilla ice cream. Well, as Mama prayed for as long as I can recall, ..give us nourishment.. at this point we both began to giggle and those giggles turned into such laughter, yeah we tried to stifle it but just couldn't, laughed so hard both of had tears running down our cheeks and our ice cream was melting. We tried several times to compose ourselves so we could eat before there was no more ice cream. I'm sure the waitress didn't know what to think. We were sitting at the counter. Finally we ate, and still continued to break out in laughter from time to time. We have never forgotten that pie & ice cream and truth be told, it was the best we ever had. I know the Lord had a blast that day with us, too.
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