Crying Over Scrambled Eggs

This morning was a pretty normal morning for me – up about 5:30, coffee x2, cozy blanket, journal, Bible – that’s how it goes. I have leisurely mornings with focused activity. I get up early to allow time to take my time if you know what I mean. After my thoughtful time, I got up – as usual – and made my breakfast. This morning I planned scrambled eggs. Sometimes, I have hard-boiled eggs, just to change it up a bit. But today the plan was scrambled eggs and a half of an apple, sliced. Simple. I heated the skillet, spritzed in some coconut oil and cracked my free-range eggs into the pan and began to scramble them. When they were just right, I scooped them onto a small Polish Pottery plate and went about halving then slicing my apple. I stood at the counter to gaze out the window and began to eat.

It doesn’t take too long to eat this breakfast so sitting down seemed a bit of a bother. It was just then, with my brain active and awake after being up for an hour and a half, that I realized what I was doing and what I’d been doing for so very many years. I was taking the gift – the blessing ­– of breakfast, of food, for granted. I was treating this privilege as if it was nothing.

In our home, we make it a practice to pray before most of our meals and thank God for our food. It’s very routine. In fact, it’s almost thoughtless. I’m glad that it’s such a routine that praying in a restaurant feels just as normal as praying in our home. Still, if I’m honest, it’s also such a routine that we do it too often without any real thought. We say words but don’t bother to really think about their significance.

Along these lines, I had another realization recently that relates to dieting. I often feel deprived when dieting. You, too? I look at what everyone else is having and I want to indulge, too. I don’t want to request steamed broccoli when others are having things coated in cheese and bread crumbs. Sometimes, in that state of feeling deprived, I go the other way and just order whatever I want. It’s a rebellious part of my personality that just goes for it, so to speak. When I feel deprived emotionally, I do the same thing. “Whatever!” becomes my mantra. I realized that in feeding my sense of deprivation I actually gain weight. Can you see the irony there? The collapse of logic? Clearly, I’m not actually deprived if I have choice.

This brings me back to this morning’s eggs. Those scrambled eggs may be my routine, but they are a gift. Wait for it – just like the ability to choose between steamed broccoli or broccoli casserole (or cheese dip, or a hot appetizer like everyone else) is a gift. I am blessed and if you are reading this, you are too. We actually have more than enough. We have choices. We, or at least I (and probably you), have a kitchen, pots and pans, butter, coconut oil, and utensils all at our disposal. We are not deprived. I am not deprived. And those basic, uninspired scrambled eggs? Well, they’re a blessing and as such, deserve special treatment.

 I immediately changed my course. I moved from my counter top location and went to the dining room table. I sat down and began to give heartfelt thanks for my eggs, my apple, my stove, my warm home. Scrambled eggs never tasted so good. I decided that the luxury of food – especially when it’s so easy to come by – deserves true thanksgiving and taking the time to sit down and enjoy the gift.

Now, I know myself. It won’t be long before I’ll be on to another great insight and in danger of forgetting this lesson. That’s why I’m writing it down. I want to remember. I need to be truly thankful for each blessed morsel. I don’t want to be shoving food mindlessly in my mouth anymore – at a counter top, in my car, eating in haste or mindlessly at any event. I want to honor the One who has so lavishly and abundantly provided for me. Once upon a time, God provided an abundant supply of manna and quail for His people. They weren’t grateful. They complained. How like them I have been!

Lord, thank you. Not just for the feast I have enjoyed over the past few days, but for what you provide every day. Thank you for the simple, fresh food I’m blessed to choose from. Thank you for the gift of indulgent foods that I am blessed to enjoy any time I desire. Please help me remember that I am blessed. May I not take my meals for granted. Please rebuke me if I’m found slipping back to my old ways.