The Genesee Reflection #7

As a pastor sometimes people think that I have the extraordinary ability of self-control.  I will say that for the most part I believe I have.  I refrain from all the things that "look" like sin.  However, there are days/weeks/months/years where I really struggle with controlling myself in other areas that don't exactly "look" like sin.  One of the areas that I have tried conquering for years is my fascination with food.   I do love to eat.  But I only love to eat the stuff that isn't good for me.  Cheeseburgers, pizza, fried chicken, tacos, and barbecue are among my favorites.  It would be one thing if I had the "self-control" to just eat in moderate portions but I don't.

On Monday, August 19th, 1974, Henri Nouwem writes:

The news in the New York Times, the letters from India posted on the bulletin board and the increasing requests for money, food, and clothes give me more and more feeling that I belong to the happy few allowed into the Ark of Noah.  The comparison does not work too well with all these celibates, but I keep thinking about sitting on the top of the mountain while the world around me is washed away.  While we have a very abundant wheat crop, the papers speak about floods in India washing away whole crops and about droughts in North Africa and parts of the U.S.A. creating endless misery there and inflation here.  While we have healthy, strong-looking men here, the pictures show emaciated people floating nowhere on self-made rafts.  While we have peace and an atmosphere of trust here, in Cyprus, Greece, Chile, Brazil, the Middle East, South Korea, etc. hostilities break out everyday.  Still I often feel homesick for the world with its pains and problems.

How is it that I can consume so much when nearly 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day mostly because of lack of clean water and food?  Why is it that it only takes $36 per month to save the life of one of those children (this includes food, shelter, water, medicine, and school) but it costs several hundred dollars per month to satisfy my personal hunger?  My father-in-law once told me something very wise that his dad had told him...He said that "A man should eat to live...not live to eat."  Why is this so hard?  After a lunch of either pizza or cheeseburgers with my wife today:)...I believe for remainder of the month of April I will try to eat half of what I would normally and send the extra money saved to Compassion International.

My King once said, "Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."

and

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance , the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink..."