On Becoming a Grateful Man (Blog)

25d ago in Faith!

*The blogs will live in the Classroom, so you can access them whenever you'd like. I will still post them to the main page, as well.

This seems like an odd way to begin, but I was eating lunch earlier and I had a thought emerge, “I forgot to pray.” And honestly, in the recent past, I hadn’t really prayed before eating by myself. I would always pray before family meals, and eventually meals with just my wife and I, and there have been a few occasions where I would pray before.

And to pause here, you may be a more mature Christian and say, “You should be praying before every meal, regardless of if you are alone or not.” I agree, but understand I didn’t think of it, but now I do. It sparks the interest to investigate further and see what has changed. It is also not lost on me from a higher viewpoint, this is sanctification. The cool thing, though, is that this is sanctification before my own eyes, and that is neat.

I’ll get to the investigating in about two minutes, but I want to go back to lunch (because it was delicious). I am there, eating my heated up, pre-prepped (by another person, thank you Clean Eatz) grass-fed burger with red potatoes and a fantastic dipping sauce, and the Holy Spirit clearly reminds me to pray. Less of my thought popping up in my head, and more of a wind of illumination cross my mind by osmosis. And my immediate reaction was to say, “Oh! Yes Lord, forgive me.” And what’s weird, dude, is as I’m writing that it sounds rather pious. I mean, I say “dude” a lot, and am very much a person of the modern times (not in the ways of the world, per se, but cultural), so speaking to my Lord so saintly would seem out of character, maybe, but it was what my heart blurted out.

And here is where the gratitude enters. As I prayed, I remembered something my seminary table mate said last night. In discussing the ways we deny our limitations, as limited creatures, of course, he mentioned that the Lord gives us daily bread and we don’t bat an eye to truly thank him. Because of the accessibility of food, it just seems like getting whatever we want to eat is just what we do. We don’t stop to think about how it got to us. Outside of the Lord’s Prayer, and blessing our food, I don’t believe we often sit there and think deeply that this food showed up to nourish us, like a momma bird flying in and feeding its baby, seemingly out of nowhere. We didn’t cultivate the land, plant the seeds, nurture the plant, and pick the food. We exchange money for it, and here it comes.

As I sat in prayerful reflection, I began to think of the hands that grew the potatoes. The farmers who cared for the cow (as it was an ethically sourced beef), and the chefs who brought the ingredients together, and the owner of the company who had this idea in the first place to supply healthy food to busy people.

What a blessing! Thank you, Lord! A community of people engaged in this process and fed me by your Spirit. You are Sovereign overall, and you give us daily bread. You were orchestrating this small moment of beauty for me to sit in and enjoy your goodness.

Now, you may say, “Ryan, calm down. It’s just a microwaved meal; nothing grand or spectacular.”

Sure, but my gratitude, by way of the Holy Spirits prompting because that was not all me, dude, filled this ordinary moment with joy, and lifted a veil to a new way of seeing God’s goodness in my life.

How can you do this?

How can you pray to have that veil lifted, so you can enjoy a deeper gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon you?

It’s something to ponder.

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