Give us today our daily bread

Living in a time and nation where food of every kind is available in such abundance, I don't feel as grateful as I should for the bread that I eat from day to day. The prayers I say before meals are often offered up in a perfunctory manner. The current issue of US News (8/15/05) focuses on America's food supply and what American's have been eating over the last 300 years. It's fascinating stuff. Living in this age of packaged, preserved food plucked from supermarket shelves, I did not realize how much America's diet has changed and how blessed we are to enjoy the wide variety of dietary options that are available to us.

Consider these factoids.

Though we romanticize the first Thanksgiving feast of the Puritans, the truth is that New England colonists largely lived on a diet of 'pease porridge' - basically bean soup - day in and day out!

A 100 years ago, the nation's meat supply was often contaminated by spoilage, chemicals, and even garbage! A single book by Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, published in 1906 about Chicago's meat packing industry, caused an uproar that spurred the Federal government to begin to regulate that industry.

Graham crackers were the invention of a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Sylvester Graham, in the early 19th century, who believed that eating too much meat and fatty food aroused sexual feelings, so he made a basic biscuit that included a lot of fiber. Graham thought a person could control lust by eating high fiber crackers!

Here's the saddest fact. While being overweight is America's number one health issue today due in part to our abundant food supply, in many parts of the world people are still suffering with malnutrition and dying from starvation! A significant percentage of people in the world today still eat to live, existing on diets of very basic staples.


When I open the refrigerator today, I am going to really give God thanks from my heart, for so much good food. How about you? As you sit down to your table, make your prayer of thanksgiving a real offering of gratitude. And.... though Rev. Graham's ideas about controlling lust by eating crackers is a crazy idea, consider what and how much you're consuming. Our diets do matter to our God since how we feed these bodies, which are the temples of the Spirit, is an issue of health. Science has proven the value of a balanced diet, of one that is lower in fat consumption, and that is rich in fiber from fresh fruits and vegetables. I believe we honor the God who has provided us with so much abundance by choosing to eat in a way that helps to keep us healthy and strong, so we can serve Him for many years with strong bodies and clear minds.


"Give us today our daily bread." ...
“I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" ...
"So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans (those who do not know God) run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, (even at your dinner table!) and all these things will be given to you as well. "
(Matthew 6:11, 25, 31-35, NIV)