Prayer before meals...?

Yeah, that one.

Another ick.

I have this funny memory... does anyone remember Ponderosa? Big buffet place when I was a kid. I think kids ate for like $3 but we ate enough for the week, so it was basically an economical investment for my parents to take us there. Man it hurt wobbling out of that place!

And we prayed before meals. And there was this feeling of like... being courageous for Jesus. Not scared to pray in public. I remember looking around, wondering if I would catch anyone else praying before meals. Sometimes I did.

I wasn't afraid to be bold for Jesus.

But then I became aware of something else. Sometimes when I was eating a meal with friends, what felt like "courage for Jesus" to me, felt like judgment to them. Or something like that.

I prayed before meals, they didn't. So, that made me at least a little holier. And a touch more socially awkward. I was in a predicament. Courage wasn't a problem, but I wasn't out to alienate either.

Then it was the repetition. I wanted to say something fresh and meaningful every time. But then you just kind of run out.

Then it all just fell apart. Why the heck was I doing all that anyway? It's not in the Bible. Seriously, I promise. It's not. It's cultural tradition. That's it.

And it all seemed as shallow as leftover sheet cake.

So I quit.

But there was something... something I wanted.

I wanted a moment. A moment of mindfulness. A moment of gratitude. A moment of pause, to become aware of love.

But how?

---

Last week I picked up a friend from the airport and we went to Chipotle. I asked him if he prayed before meals. We've both kind of been on this journey together. He told me about how he has some non-religious friends who still bless their food. I liked that. It wasn't about some sign of allegiance owed to a deity, just a moment to pause.

I told him about an outlandish plan I'd hatched. I dreaded anyone asking me to pray before a meal these days. So here was my plan. If anyone asked me, I'd make them regret it by summoning the whole pantheon!

"Dear Heavenly Mother, Zeus, and Thor... and to my own Divinity Within... I hearby entreat thee to bequeath upon me my own rich reward! SHAZAM!"

So anyway they would never ask me to pray again. Problem solved!!!

And we laughed.

But I kept thinking. I really did want that moment of pause. But how?

I thought about it for awhile. I realized that I was actually quite ok with the words being identical every time. A ritual. A space to pause. So here are the words I created. Adopt them if they feel meaningful to you.

"We pause for a moment of gratitude to become aware of the love that is being returned to us. (*pause*) Amen."

I like it. No deity. Yet room for one if chosen. Mindfulness. Space. Room to actually experience the feeling of gratitude and love.

Maybe this resonates.