Merry Christmas!

I hope you and your family are having an excellent morning! Christmas is a time of year where we acknowledge the blessings and provisions God has bestowed upon us.

Consider for a moment, God’s provision of food. Perhaps it’s something that we’ve taken for granted this past year? Have we been well-fed this year?

Now, consider God’s provision of food, in comparison to the provision of money to purchase food from a grocery store. Is there a difference in our ability to appreciate such blessings?

If you’ve ever spent Christmas in a rural community, you’ve experienced the difference. Where our food comes from matters.

When a family has spent the year farming the land, raising livestock or hunting sections of the local wilderness, there is a deeper connection to the food on the table. Within these communities, there seems to be a strong connection between man’s plight for food and God’s provision of that food.

Obviously, communities of every size have conversations about the weather and economy. Nevertheless, the link to these two topics seems to become greater as the community gets smaller.

• The amount of precipitation can make or break the season’s crop.
• Temperature swings can change the migration of wildlife in or out of a particular hunting area or an entire season.
• The price of grains or livestock can have a serious impact on local shared wealth.

What I am not saying:

I am not saying that larger communities don’t have a dependency on God’s provision, or that big city populations blindly make purchases without any concept of the greater economic system. After all, I have lived in a large city before and purchased our groceries from the supermarket down the street. I get it.

That being said, and having experienced both environments, there’s something unique that takes place as a family gathers around the dinner table in the dead of winter, over a wild roast that God has blessed them with during the fall hunt. Or perhaps, a family gathering around a local farm-raised goose, ham or turkey?

The prayer of thanksgiving over these Christmas dinners has the potential to carry a more weighty reverence for the Creator and Sustainer of all life. Perhaps, each bite carrying with it a deeper appreciation of God’s provision over the past year?

Regardless, today, as we cut into beef from our farms, wild game from the woods or turkey from our local grocery store, may we offer up a multitude of praises for God’s provision this Christmas.

Enjoy your Christmas dinner!

Join the Conversation; Share Your Thoughts

• What are you having for Christmas dinner?
• What part of that meal are you particularly thankful for and why?