Every morsel is a gift from God

This morning, I sat for breakfast with a bowl of Macaroni, with the idea of being “mindful” while eating. As I stuffed my first spoonful into my mouth, this thought crossed my mind – “Every morsel is a gift from God.”

Day in and day out, we eat…I mean we just eat. If we are making an attempt at being mindful, at least we are there at the present moment and we are “aware” of the food. But most of us just gulp it down our throats as if it’s just another task that needs to be completed as quickly as possible, so that we can get back to “more important” tasks.

I have seen even my dad do this. He’d wake up in the morning and do all his tasks to perfection. He would brush his teeth to perfection, go for a “perfect” jog for about 45 minutes, have a nice leisurely bath, pray in a routine manner and get dressed. He would have exerted all his attention to performing all these tasks to perfection. Now, when its time for breakfast, he would suddenly realize that he has no time at all!! He would just “push” it down his throat, while complaining that my mom has overloaded his plate!

Should we really do this? What is food, really? Food is life. It stands second to only air and water. There are millions in this world who don’t even get a square meal a day. Surely, they would know the value of a single morsel of food. And here we are, in the comfort of our homes, offices or wherever, paying least regard to the task of eating.

I don’t mind if I sound like I’m giving a sermon, but here it is – we all work mainly for our food. What can be more important than this? Let us eat with utmost regard and thank the good Lord for giving us this day’s meal. Let us respect the food that we eat, and know that we have worked for it.