Lunch As Devotion

Monday Lunch at Briarwood

Sundays wear me out, and so I generally take a half day off on Monday, rise early to do chores at the barn or in the garden, brew a pot of tea and catch up on some reading, and then enjoy an eminently civilized lunch before reporting for duty.  Lunch today consisted of a sort of pheasant stir fry, green beans and potatoes, blueberry rice, garden salad, wine, and acorn squash for dessert.  I take great satisfaction in consuming what I have labored to produce.  Today, the rice and blueberries were from Giant Eagle and the wine was from France and California.  everything else I either raised in my garden or shot.  Each bite seems to bring back memories of honest labor and good friends, and I cannot recommend gardening or hunting enough to anyone who is so inclined.  St. Benedict and others have for years maintained that there is something sacred in labor, in the production of those things which meet our needs and make the world a better place.  I would be the last to suggest that we all quit our jobs and become subsistence farmers or hunter gatherers.  That would probably be a real recipe for disaster, and would bring much evil into the world.  But to have a link to God's creation, however small it may be, is I think a good thing which nourishes the soul and calls us to consider those things which are truly important: God, friends and family, responsibility, and purpose (among others.)  I hope and pray for all my friends today that you might find time and opportunity for a small link to this world in which we live, and in so doing, that you might come closer to the heart of God.