Saturday, September 8, 2012

Happy Harvest

      Life is always bursting at the seams with activity at the beginning of a new school year.  One of the biggest challenges this time of year always brings to the table is balancing the effort of putting away enough food for the winter while ensuring there is plenty of time set aside for everyone's schoolwork.  Slipping in one area can quickly tip the scales enough to throw off family balance.  For me this has meant putting a temporary hold on the flow of writing I had been pursuing over the summer.  However, this breezy Saturday morning I found myself gifted with some spare moments all to myself and I jumped at the chance to steal a few moments for working on this little piece that has been taking shape in the back of my mind.  It's a simple exploration of my love affair with good food and its spiritual impact on moods and feelings.  


     The variety of food provided for us by God does more than simply sustain our lives with physical nourishment.  Food alters and elevates our moods and comforts the body and soul when we are in need.  It is no small wonder that Jesus referred to himself as food or living bread.  Food, being a universal need, is something we are able to wrap our minds around.  We can see, smell, taste, and feel it linking aspects of our physical self to our spiritual dimensions with romantic harmony.  Yet food goes a step beyond simply connecting us to ourselves.  It also links us to each other and Our Creator as well.  
    
     I see each food designed by God as a loving miracle.  It is no small wonder when I can taste a warm sun-ripened raspberry plucked from a prickly branch or slice into a hydrating cool cucumber on a muggy day.  They become living proof to my whole being that God created the world for us!  He knew at the beginning we would need to wrap our shaking hands around mugs of steaming tea with tear-streaked faces or slice into sweet smelling loaves of warm bread on a frigid morning.  It seems to me that each food and all that we are able to create with it is an extension of the many facets of God. Each one is a preconceived gift from above that should be celebrated, enjoyed, and shared with family and friends.    

Happy Harvesting!



Sweet Current

Trembling fingers
grasp,
Spiced mocha mug
sipped with
caution so
fever won't burn.

Butterfly stomach 
gnaws,
Sweet corn aroma
fasting for 
love that
dines on fumes.

Running thoughts
stray,
Currant jam drips
toasted on 
hope to
fuel empty tanks.

Salty palate 
thirsts,
Iced fruit cleanses
melting the
urge to
return to the fray.

Roused appetites
jump,
Early fried confection
sweetened by
warmth that
sustains over time.