There is a weird habit among people in many religions called "blessing the food". It's especially popular in mine. What usually happens in a blessing is that you say thanks (sometimes a forgotten step) and you then ask that God bless the food, 99% of the time "to nourish and strengthen our bodies". It never crosses their mind that they often do this over sugary "refreshments" or fatty foods.
I can't stand it. It's so arrogant to ask God to bless this kind of food after he's made the earth fertile enough to grow naturally tasty food, workers strong and healthy enough to tend to and remove it, money to buy it, people to prepare it, and everything else and then THEN you ask for even more - again, mostly over salty, fatty, sugary, or otherwise unhealthy food.
It's just a disgrace! The only thing you should be saying is "thank you". Give thanks. It's not: "let's bless the food" as if there is some natural taint to it and it will only be good if you ask God to make it so (he's already done that), it's: "let's give thanks."
My rant for the day.
Hehe. Tom also has strong feelings about "blessing the food," though they're a little different, and I think no one would disagree that asking for donuts to "nourish and strengthen our bodies" is a little silly.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I don't think Heavenly Father minds it too much, as long as it's done in gratitude for the blessings we already have and in sincerity--avoiding vain repetitions and all that. The scriptures are full of exhortations to One thing that has helped me is asking for my body to react well to what I'm eating, particularly if it's healthy but has the potential to give me a stomach ache. And then, if you think about the lower-than-we-think bio-availability of nutrients in many of the foods we eat, maybe it's appropriate to pray that our bodies absorb as much of what we need as possible. I don't know. Some random thoughts. :)