GRATITUDE 212 An invitation to Feast

                                         

In an effort to improve the health of our family, we recently joined an organic vegetable co-op. Every Thursday before 8 am two laundry baskets full of fresh colorful fruits and vegetables arrive on my front doorstep. Over the past month or so, we've really made an effort to cut out the processed foods and replace them with whole foods from God's good earth. If you know us, you know we aren't a family known for the best eating habits. Even my toddler who has very few words knows how to ask for fast food! So having produce delivered to our door has definitely eliminated room for “excuses” to eat processed food!

A most interesting thing is happening to us...our tastes are changing! Last Friday, this mama was just too tired to come up with a wholesome meal so I decided to break our “fast” from processed foods with a pizza from our favorite local pizza shop. I was honestly quite excited to eat my favorite greasy pizza until I took the first bite..and realized it didn't taste as good to me anymore. What once brought delight to my taste buds now tasted mediocre at best. The pizza left me disappointed and longing . I walked straight to the kitchen and cut up several tomatoes to satisfy my craving for whole food.

At this point let me say this post is not primarily about food and changing tastes, at least in the way you might be thinking. Here's what I mean: As I have thought about the process of our changing tastes and our improved health, I've been drawn to think about a deeper spiritual reality about the hunger and tastes of our soul.

In an effort to improve our health, not not only have we abstained from “junk food” but we have literally feasted on what is good. And in doing so, our tastes and craving are changing. What once tasted good to me is losing it's appeal.

And the same principal is at work in the feeding of our souls. Yes, we are called to abstain from the addictions and pleasures that wage war against our souls. But as we fast from those, we feast on something else....on God himself. The world offers fast, cheap processed imitations of that which our heart is truly longing for. And the battle to conquer those addictions isn't primarily about fasting...it's about feasting.

Listen to these words from Isaiah which speak to the feeding and nourishment of our souls:

5 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.

Just as our bodies were made to be filled, so our souls were meant to be deeply satisfied as we drink from the living water and feast on the bread of life, Jesus himself.

By nature we hungry and thirsty, regularly needing nourishment for our bodies and souls. Just as our family has abstained from junk and feasted on whole food, so we as Christians are called to abstain from what the world offers to fill us and instead feast on what we were really meant for. The power to break addictions to the world and the passions of our flesh is more about what we feast on than what we abstain from. As we replace imitations with the real thing, our cravings change and our souls begin to want that which can truly satisfy, namely God himself. God's call to us is to be people who feast and are full, showing him for what he is...all satisfying.

So let us ask ourselves, what am I craving and what am I feasting on today? Am I hearing Jesus' sweet invitation to have my soul fed and satisfied freely in him? How can I “taste and see that the Lord is good?”