Trust in the Promise of Your Meal Blessing

Today's Guest Post is by Katie from Kitchen Stewardship.
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Mary sat at Jesus's feet and listened to Him teach. Martha hurried around the kitchen preparing a meal. I want to be both at once! The tension between when to be quiet and prayerful and when to bustle around and do many things is difficult for me. I want to do it all!

Often we feel tension when trying to make good decisions in the kitchen. Organic food vs. budget, avoiding processed foods vs. time spent in the kitchen...That tension is the motivation for creating Kitchen Stewardship. I hate that feeling, and I want to help you break free of the worries and do your personal best to give your family and God the best you can, one baby step at a time.

I offer you one tiny step in the process of releasing worry and integrating prayer into your kitchen. Today's tip is for everyone who feels crunched by their food budget but wishes they could spend more on "clean" food.

The Tug of the Budget

We are not all able to give our families the very best, perhaps, because of financial limitations. Many single-income families struggle with food purchases, especially when trying to eat nutritious, safe food. Organic food is expensive. Stainless steel water bottles cost a lot more than plastic. Avoiding pesticides may mean you have to avoid eating out or taking a vacation. Healthy fats cost way more than shortening. Fruits and vegetables - even the standard ones - make a bigger dent in the food budget than potato chips and processed bread. Organic food is expensive. (Have I said that one already?) Buying grass-fed meat and healthy eggs can make you feel like you ought to get insurance for your frozen food in case of power outage. Natural supplements and dishwasher detergents get into double digits pretty quickly. And have I mentioned organic (and well-raised) food is expensive?

I don't want you to think "eating healthy" means "eating organic". It's far from that. But purchasing foods that have LESS added to them - fewer preservatives, fewer pesticides, fewer chemical fertilizers, less processing, less sugar, less high fructose corn syrup - always ends up costing you MORE in the end. It's an unfortunate irony.

There's no way around balancing a budget and buying healthy food. Either you find places to cut and buy the expensive stuff, or you do what you can and purchase less than your idea in many categories. What are those of us to do who have already made budget cuts, who desire organic spinach but must grab the 10/$10 bag of pesticide-laden stuff anyway?

How to Make Up for Less than Perfect?

My friend has a way to compensate. She knows she can't afford organic, pastured chicken, for example. When she serves run-of-the-mill storebought chicken that ate God-knows-what under miserable conditions, she begs our Lord to fill the gap. She prays the meal blessing with her family and adds a codicil in her head: "Lord, I know this isn't the ideal meal. Please bless this food. I trust you to make up the difference in nutrition for my family. Protect us from anything in this chicken that might harm us. May we be healthy anyway." It's about doing your best, and then trusting God to fill the space that lies between the resources you have and what you'd like to serve. God saved Daniel from hungry lions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from fire, and Peter from shackles in a prison. Don't you think He can protect your family from a few pesticides if only you ask? "Bless US, O Lord..." Ask, seek, knock. "And these Thy GIFTS..." God knows how to give His children good things! "From Thy bounty..." All our food is from our God. "Through Christ, Our Lord..." Jesus will provide.

Important to Remember...

One reminder: please don't look at this as an excuse to buy whatever you want and hope that God won't allow the consequences of your choices to harm you. We are instructed not to tempt or Father. We all know we shouldn't go jump off a tall building and expect God to catch us so we aren't at all injured. We can't be irresponsible with our choices. Our purchases still affect the world at large. We must be sure to do what we can to reduce our negative impact on the environment and give our families the best with the resources God has given us. Someday we'll be in Heaven, God willing, and we won't have to think about what to buy, how to prepare it, and if it's going to hurt us.

But in the meantime, since we live out of Eden, pray a meal blessing at every meal, and super-charge it with supplication for holy supplementation!

Katie blogs at Kitchen Stewardship about being good stewards of our time, money, family's nutrition and the environment, answering God's call in the kitchen and sharing tips to help you find the balance and integrate prayer into your cooking.





photo by United Nations Photo

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Our Prayers Are With The Barrett Family

Our prayers today are with the Barrett Family, who have just lost their 14 year old son Ryan to a drowning accident. (Here is a link to a local story about the accident. Here is another.)

Please keep their family in your prayers as well.

Tonight, our family lit two candles after Mass -- one for Ryan and his family, and another for all children and that especially when things are crazy in our household, that we never take for granted what a gift God has given us in our children.

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Sacred in the Ordinary

Today's guest post is by Judy from Daily Blessings and Ben Makes Ten

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Take a look around you...what do you see when you take in the panorama of your home?


If all that you see is the clutter, or the fingerprints, or the chipped paint and holes in the walls...LOOK AGAIN...Look....and SEE the SACRED.


If God is the center of your life, your marriage, your family, your home school...then by virtue of His Holy Presence, the items in your home become SACRED.


Take your bed, for instance. What were your thoughts when you made it this morning?


Did you really GIVE it any thought? Or, did you mindlessly tuck in the covers as you were already considering the five thousand things you needed to accomplish today? Well, then...consider this invitation: Tomorrow, when you make you bed, think of it as SACRED.


This place where you lie down each night next to the one with whom you have chosen to spend your life...this bed, where all of the worries and tasks of the day are laid to rest...this place of respite and relaxation...this place where God, the Creator allows you the grace of joining with Him in the creation of NEW LIFE...this place where quiet is shared, and warmth is given, where love is present...as you make your bed tomorrow, THINK OF YOUR SPOUSE...pray for him to have JOY and PEACE in his work that day...THANK GOD for him (even if things are not going well between you), treasure and cherish the hours that you spend here with one another...do not take it for granted...for it is a GIFT...and it is SACRED.


And what about your dining room table? Yes, it might be getting wobbly as the years wear on, the knicks and scratches show, and you are tired of explaining to toddlers that it is NOT a stage on which to stand and sing...but the next time you look at it...SEE the SACRED...this is your place of family unity...a place to break bread, such an intimate thing...a place to look into the eyes of those you love most in this world...a place to gather at the end of a busy day...to laugh, to share, to discuss, even to try to be heard over the endless chatter of Littles, a place to welcome guests, a place to serve and pamper, a place that reminds you that "things are good" in life...because you have food, you have family, and you have HOME...just a table? Or...something SACRED?


How many times a day do you use your water? How many of those times do you see it as SACRED...this fresh clean water, with which God has blessed you...to cleanse yourself, to nourish and refresh yourself, to clean the things around you, to cook, to water your plants, to bathe your babies, and even to play with in warm weather...The next time you go to wash your hands, or stop for a drink, say a prayer of thanks for your water...and SEE the SACRED.


Don't forget your SCHOOL...so easy for us to take for granted...or worse yet...to feel it as burdensome or something getting in the way...EMBRACE your school tomorrow...SEE in it the SACRED! God has allowed you to bring your children along-side you to teach, to influence, to share with, to nurture, to love...the books, the papers, the lesson plans, the assignments waiting to be graded...these are all reminders of HOW BLESSED YOU ARE to home school...these things are the font of learning in your home...they are the means by which you raise your children to know, love, and serve the Lord...they are the tools and instruments by which your children (and YOU) are enlightened, enriched, and challenged...you are FREE in your school to INVITE GOD into your classes...ordinary? NO! SACRED!


Family life is such a beautiful gift and blessing from God...His hand is upon you, and therefore all that is ORDINARY becomes EXTRAORDINARY...all that He has touched is SACRED!


Look around you with HIS EYES today...see your home anew! Give thanks for all that surrounds you and know that NOTHING is ordinary where GOD is present. See your home...and SEE the "SACRED" in it!


Judy is busy keeping up with the eight of ten blessings who are still at home with her, and you can visit her at
http://www.momoften.webs.com/ and http://benmakesten.blogspot.com/


photo by chynna67

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Capturing Kitchen Prayer Moments

Today's Guest Post is by Katie from Kitchen Stewardship.

I will be the first to tell you that everyone needs time for silent prayer during the day. I will also be the first to admit that this is oh! so hard for me to accomplish! Therefore, I am a huge advocate of what my friend calls “moving prayer.” For mommies and other people on the move, it is essential to remain connected to God throughout the day, even as you engage in other tasks.

I am especially aware of the available mental energy for “moving prayer” as I work in the kitchen. The multitude of mundane tasks that I work my way through while making a meal include: chopping vegetables, setting the table, gathering ingredients, storing leftovers, washing dishes…and the list could go on. I make it a point to harness some of my surplus intellectual space during these times, and I pray.

How often do you find that you have something repetitive “in your head”? If you’re a parent, it’s likely to be the ABCs or “Elmo’s World” theme song, and if you’re a normal person, perhaps the song you last heard in your car is stuck in there. Your head, I mean, not the car.

When I find my mind doing something repetitive, that’s my cue to switch over to the prayer station: I convince my mind to pray a repetitive prayer instead. We Catholics have lots of them. Honestly, the Hail Mary is a bit long for me while I’m working. I get distracted! My favorite is, “For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world.” It’s from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and it has just the right rhythm to chop food by. I don’t count ten of them, I just go until I have to focus my brain on dinner again.

If you’re not Catholic and not comfortable with these prayers, I would encourage you to try something like this:

~ A favorite praise song
~ “Lord, have mercy”
~ “Christ, have mercy”
~ “Jesus, remember me”
~ Repeat the Name of Jesus
~ “Bless my family, Lord”
~ Any phrase that you feel is worthwhile to tell the Lord rather than your ABCs!

I want to challenge you to be prayerful in the kitchen. If you can harness your repetitive mind and turn it towards God with this method, please try it! The world needs our prayers.

Katie blogs at Kitchen Stewardship about being good stewards of our time, money, family's nutrition and the environment, answering God's call in the kitchen and sharing tips to help you find the balance and integrate prayer into your cooking.

photo by RyanDianna

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