“Mom, I’m hungry!” “Honey, what’s for dinner?” It is the eternal question that never goes away…what should I fix for the next meal? The answer usually depends on available time, money, and energy level for the meal-maker.
We try to get creative as often as possible, especially when we host company, a party, contribute to a potluck dinner, or we want to treat someone special. Bookshelves stuffed with recipe books indicate our desire to please picky palates as well as build healthy bodies. Years of cooking and serving can wear on us—we get into a tired, lazy meal rut. Imagination escapes us. We think perhaps it is time to buy yet another recipe book—to inspire motivation and explore more options.
Personally, I get tired of the food routine…plan, purchase, haul groceries, cook them up, clean up the mess, start all over again. Sometimes I wish it would all go away. I easily get into the habit of preparing the same ol’ meals, nothing exciting. Often I get busy and don’t want to bother with the meal thing, but only a few hours pass and then there are….hunger pangs.
It just takes discipline—and a lot of work--to make meals fun and nutritious.
Same thing with our spiritual lives.
How often do you find yourself spiritually hungry? When you feel empty, how quickly do you respond? It seems easy to go through our day taking care of other business, forgetting to take time to enrich our own spirit with long ‘drinks’ to quench thirst and build our strength and stamina with ‘meaty’ meditation. Grab a Power snack!
If we neglect, we pay a price, both short and long term. We turn into bored, boring people, spiritually malnourished. We can’t get far running on the ‘fumes’ of last week’s prayer time. We just won’t have much to pour out because we are empty inside.
The cool thing about this is, God is ever-waiting for us to spend time in his presence. He longs to release a greater measure of refreshment to us, a fountain of continual revelation that keeps us awake, alive, and overflowing. He is the Master Gourmet Chef that never runs out of tasty treats…all we have to do is set aside a little time and ask, “God, I’m hungry, what’s on your menu for today?”
Re: I'm Hungry! What's for dinner?
thank you, Mary. I found this very meaty and interesting to chew on. just the discipline it takes to remain spiritually nourished. Jesus being both the bread of life and the water of Life presents an interesting challenge, because both require different ways of consuming Him. water is readily available, and easy to consume, but we often neglect it. and just as we may actually be dehydrating without realizing it, so also a lack of thirst for His Presence generally means that we are actually in need of more of Him. to me this represents communing and listening/receiving His Love, which is readily available to us. same for Bread...I think of bread as delicious to consume. I enjoy eating it. sometimes it is prepared for me. other times I have to go make it or get it myself. this represents bliss/ecstasy and also meditation on the Scriptures (the kind that leads to encounter with the Word-made-flesh). the finer aspects of enjoying His Presence. I guess another way of looking at it would be hiddenness and manifestation, like Graham Cooke calls it. water is hidden...we taste it, but it doesn't affect us the same way food does. we know it's good for us, but because we find so many other things instantly gratifying, we tend to ignore it, unless we develop the healthy habit of drinking all the time. then it becomes enjoyable too.
on the subject of shopping...how often have you gone on a prophetic shopping spree?
I talked to a woman I know in Redding once and she was telling me about how she goes shopping. she'll ask the Lord what to buy and He'll tell her things, some of which seem odd or out of place to her. some of it being food or art or creative supplies of some kind, whatever. then a few days later there will be a need for that ingredient in a spontaneous meal being served to an individual, or an occassion outside of the home, etc. inspiration will strike later on, but first she receives the direction on what to buy. I'm sure you do this instinctively anyway, but it might add some interesting direction to the whole experience, beyond asking the Lord for wisdom in purchasing, etc.
love,
Matthew
hungry!
Matthew--thanks for writing! Keep hungering and eating and thirsting and drinking!
RE: shopping--I do keep a list of things, some of them are odd, and make my list of errands...I listen to God about order and timing of where to go when, and I find that often there are special people I run into when I follow Spirit's leading. Makes the day and the outings more fun!
Keep up the good work in your spiritual walk!
Blessings, Merry