eating and thanksgiving

Women and food. It's a struggle that goes back to the Garden. As modern American women, we know about diets. All sorts of diets. And somehow every diet has just ONE EASY RULE to follow--I know this because I get fifteen emails a day in my spam folder telling me so. Don't you wish there were one easy rule by which we could put the flesh to death in this area? Well, since you asked...

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. (1 Tim. 4:4-5)

John Calvin said,

And since, as we have said several times, he is honored in the manner due him when he is acknowledged as the author of all blessings, it follows that we ought so to receive all those things from his hand as to accompany them with continual thanksgiving; and that there is no just reason for us to make use of his benefits, which flow and come to us from his generosity, with no other end, if we do not continually utter his praise and render him thanks. For Paul, when he testifies that they "are sanctified by the word . . . and prayer", at the same time hints that without the word and prayer they are not at all holy and pure for us. (Institutes 3.20.28)

This is the rule regarding food: you never, ever put anything in your mouth without thanking and praising God for it. You don't swallow without praising Him. You don't digest without praising Him.

Calvin later says that our silence is spiteful when we fail to praise Him. There is not a bite too small for Him to be praised for. (Sometimes I don't remember until it's going down my throat, but hey, praise Him for reminding me to praise Him!) This also helps me control how much and what is going into my mouth. Can I really praise Him as he deserves when I'm just feeding my flesh?

I'm throwing out the idea of "saying grace" before meals, and I'm replacing it with a prayer of genuine thanksgiving before, during, and after the meal. No more bored thank you for this food, bless it to our bodies, amen for me. God tells us to pray that He supply our daily bread--and if you ate today, then He did. So praise Him! And thank Him! And realize how blessed you are.

Meanwhile, there are Christians all over the world who are starving. Right now. Can I be the means that God uses to provide their daily bread?