What's For Dinner?
The postal food drive this year for our food pantry was an awesome success. Our pantry is set to provide healthy food for appreciative individuals and families in our community. And after a busy day at the store and now dating and sorting food, I return home, and face the age old dilemma...WHAT AM I GOING TO MAKE FOR DINNER TONIGHT??
In my evening leisurely reading, I have been learning about how people lived during biblical times. It comes as no surprise that back then wives spent the better part of their day in meal preparation. In general two meals were eaten, as the mid day meal was practically non existent due to the heat of the day. (Same for me!) Bread was made from scratch daily (ok, not at my house). Meals were a gathering time for family and friends. Hospitality of a meal was one way to show one another kindness. Nomadic hospitality is legendary. Travelers were always welcomed, being offered a simple meal from what was available.
So how does this apply to our food pantry and the food drive?
Are we not called to be hospitable and serve others?
Individuals come to our We Care office and are offered hospitality. They are offered a drink, a listening ear, and a friendly smile. And they are given food. They are offered simple nutritious food, from what has been given to us, we now are able to share.
So the question of what to make for dinner tonight? How about rephrasing it to what should I serve for dinner tonight? How can I show kindness and hospitality? A simple meal, from what is available, shared with others. The preparation of the meal may have changed since Biblical times, but the task of feeding a family remains the same. In We Care we have simply widened the circle of who we are serving diner to tonight. Not our immediate family, but the family who comes to our office.
Hospitality is an awesome gift to share. We are so blessed to be able to share it in abundance.
Gen. 18:2-8
2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
Laura Beth Snow is the manager at our Good Neighbor Thrift Store and We Care. Her laugh and smile are contagious and she continues to break store records on a regular basis.