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One spring, several years ago, my husband, Terry, and I volunteered at a camp to help get the facilities ready for their summer season. Because the camp supplied us with housing, we ate with the staff for three weeks. It was great to eat food that someone else had cooked, but I soon realized the limitations of not being able to choose my own menu. The food we ate depended on what was in the freezer, what had already been donated. That meant meals repeatedly featuring the same kind of meat. Vegetables were usually the frozen variety, that were easy to heat up for a crowd. Very few salads appeared, as fresh greens didn't keep very long.
I try to be careful with what I eat, and at this time, to complicate matters, I was trying to avoid certain foods because of a body cleanse we were undergoing. I wasn't supposed to have sugary desserts, but it was hard to walk past them.
Discontent crept in. I began focusing on what I didn't have. I wasn't exactly hungry, but like the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness, I began yearning for different types of food. In Numbers 11:6 the people complained, “'We remember the the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!'” (NLT)
I found myself comparing what I'd like to eat, with what I was actually eating. Hebrews 10:10 says, “And don't grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.” (NLT). I didn't realize I was complaining out loud as I talked to my son on the phone.
“There's always the same kind of meat...” I began.
Stephen quickly pointed out, “But you said how glad you were that the camp was going to provide meals for you, and that you didn't have to cook!” His words brought me up short.
An Aha! moment. My focus shifted from the food I didn't have to all the things God had provided for me. He had brought us safely to this camp in Manitoba. We were in Canada, which was less complicated than crossing the border. He had given us a room in a quiet rural setting with a view of a lake. The people we worked for and worked with were kind and loving. And, really, the food situation would not last forever.
I recognized how vulnerable I was to comparisons between the ideal, and the reality. Food choice is definitely an area of struggle for me, both at home and when we are out. At the camp I had no control over the menu, but I could develop self -control. I could stop grumbling and develop gratitude.
As I came to these realizations, I was able to simply say, “Help me, Lord, to be grateful in this situation, and to have self-control. And the Lord did help me. All because of a holy-Spirit inspired Aha! moment.
Lord, help us to not fall into the trap of yearning for what we can't have. Help us to trust in You for situations in which we have no outward control. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Alice Burnett
Red Deer, AB, Canada
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