Eating Prayerfully

One day I decided to eat a bagel prayerfully. Actually, I was running late and didn’t have time for both lunch and my noon devotions, so I decided to combine them.

Expediency is not a particularly noble motivation for moving deeper into prayer, but in this case it brought a new awareness of the connectedness of my life with the whole of God’s creation.

Slow Down

I started by making myself slow down and chew with gratitude and appreciation. This was a significant change since I usually inhale my lunch while focusing on other things (sorting through the mail, reading the paper, checking email…..). But as I focused on taking each bite prayerfully, eating a bagel became a very sensual experience! I noticed the wonderful contrast between the crisp golden texture of the outer crust and the soft, milky white interior. I noticed the yeasty aroma of the bagel, the hint of salt in the dough, and the nutty flavor of the toasted sesame seeds. It was a really good bagel, and I found myself offering prayers of gratitude and thanksgiving for the pleasure that came with every mouthful.

Connection

And then I found myself contemplating all of the effort that went into producing the bagel I was enjoying: kneading the dough, shaping it into a circle, boiling it in water, coating it with seeds, and baking it in the oven. I thought about the baker who started work well before sunrise, the teenaged sales clerk who waited on me before heading off to her afternoon college classes and the owner whose life savings are invested in the business.

And then I started thinking about all of the people and resources involved in getting the ingredients to the bakery. I thought about the farm workers who prepared the soil, planted the wheat, and harvested the crop, the silage operators who stored the grain, the millers who ground the flour, the railroad workers who shipped the bulk ingredients, the wholesalers who warehoused them, the truckers who transported them, the mechanics who serviced the trucks, the construction workers who maintained the highways, the utility workers who supplied electricity…….

It doesn’t take a long list of ingredients to make a bagel: flour, water, salt, sugar and leaven. But as I thought about everything involved in bringing those resources together, I realized that you can’t make a bagel without steel, glass, rubber, gasoline, oil, copper, concrete, asphalt…..and countless human hands.

I was expecting my devotions to provide a little alone time for me and God, but instead the room was crowded with all sorts of people I had never considered to be part of my life before. What surprised me even more was that I was grateful for their company and deeply appreciative of all the ways they contribute to my welfare!

Sense of Awe

I have since begun experimenting using prayer with other foods (though admittedly Brussels sprouts are giving me trouble) and have branched out into household appliances, paper products and articles of clothing. There is a prayerful way of doing practically anything that awakens us to a new awareness of how connected our lives are to the lives of other people and to all of the gifts of God’s creation. Something as simple as turning on a light switch can provoke a deep sense of awe, wonder and thanksgiving if we pause to think about all of the people and all of the resources that are working together to bring light to our darkness.

Maybe that is what the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18)  

Questions for Reflection and Discussion:

1. Instead of praying before a meal, try eating a meal prayerfully. How does that change your experience?

2. What are some of the moments when you have suddenly become aware of how connected your life is to the lives of others and to the whole of God’s creation?

3. What does it mean to live faithfully in such an interconnected world?