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Eating

on eating

Conversations with my granddaughter

Hello little one,

Grampa always love to watch you eat. You will initially eye the food that is set before you. Then you pounce and attack! Yes, you do not eat like other little ones. You attack your food; chomp chomp chomp; empties the plate then hold it out for seconds! The big people watching you often worries that you choke but you seem to be able to swallow well. It is obvious that you enjoy your food. Grampa is glad and so is your Daddy, I am sure. You see, both Grampa and your Daddy enjoy eating. We love food of different flavours. We also love our grape juice! Some big people eat to live and some live to eat. You know which category your Daddy and Grampa belongs to, don’t you? Yes, Grampa loves to eat. Grampa has read that as people grows older, they may lose many of their taste buds. Grampa is not sure how true this is but Grampa is not taking any chances. Grampa is eating as much and as frequent as Grampa can.

Little one, thank you for teaching us to say ‘grace’ before eating. You taught us to say “God is great. God is good. We thank God for this food. Amen”. You also taught us to clasp our hands and close our eyes, though you keep yours open to check on everyone. Do you know why we say grace or this little prayer before we eat? We say it because we want to acknowledge that God is great and good. We also want to thank God for giving us food, and mouth and teeth to enjoy them. Little one, we must be thankful for our food and for people who prepare them. Your Grandma Por Por is very happy that you enjoy her porridge. Especially when you finished by saying “D-D-Delicious!” That makes her very very happy. To be thankful for our food means we enjoy eating them.

When we thank God for food, little one, remember that it is not only for food that you see on the plates but for spiritual food too. God who is both great and good offers us physical and spiritual food. Physical food for our bodies, and spiritual food for our spirits and souls. Our bodies, spirits and souls need food to grow. Once upon a time Jesus was traveling with his disciples. They left him alone at a well while they went to the kampong to get food. It was at this well that Jesus meet a Samaritan woman and helped her to understand who God is. When his disciple came back with the ta-pau lunch, Jesus told them he has already eaten. Little one, what Jesus meant was that by helping others to know God, he has received spiritual food. And Grampa believes that little ones, like yourself, have helpings of spiritual food specially delivered daily. Maybe second and third helpings too for those who ‘attack’ their food. How do Grampa know? Well Grampa believes that a person who is spiritually well fed will have a special relationship with God, be innocent, joyful and grateful. Little one, every morning when you wake up and after you wipe the sleep from your eyes, you immediately light up the room with your smile. You shine forth the innocent pure unadulterated joy, gratefulness, and happiness to be alive. This is especially when you are trying to wake up your grumpy sleepy Grampa with your cherry “Good Morning!” All these joy, gratefulness and happiness can only come from God.

Dear God,

Thank you for your provision of both physical and spiritual food for this little one. May she continue to be nourished by Your Hand.

Amen

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