October 28, 2016

Eat

31 Days of Practicing Faith

In October, I am free writing for five minutes a day—raw and unedited—on practicing faith in the every day. Each day is based on a different prompt from 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes.

{Day 28} – Eat

We say it at least a dozen times during each meal. Sometimes it feels like a hundred or more:

“Eat!”

Our kids would rather play with their food or kick each other, sing songs or drum on their plate. Anything but pay attention to their plates. Exasperated, we usually finish each meal and I wonder if they will ever focus on what’s in front of them. They are always so distracted when it comes to mealtime and it becomes the most exhausting part of our day.

As I scrape uneaten food off of the plates they have already run off to the next thing. I want to be angry…

But I realize I am just like them. Sure, I’ve learned to sit at the table without my elbows on it, to eat my vegetables and not to chew with my mouth open. But I am easily distracted just like them. I turn my attention away from what nourishes me, too. I don’t focus on the things in front of me that will fill me up either. My eyes wander away from the Bread of Life every day. How exasperated my Father must feel watching me choose lesser things than what could truly satisfy me.

I say a prayer as I stack dishes in the dish drainer and thank God for His patience with me. I ask for a share of that patience with my kids and for a hunger for the only thing that will truly fill me.

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