Christians should always be just a little bit hungry...

So as we are in the midst of lent, observing meatless Fridays, spending more time in the Word, making sure to carve out that time for prayer and meditation, and reflecting on the Lord's sacrifice.  I didn't have any strong feeling this year of "giving something up",  but what abstinence and fasting did was draw me toward was making a small lifestyle change that will hopefully keep my mind and my eyes more focused on Christ.  Maybe I should always let myself be just a little bit hungry, to know what it is
to want.
  To be brought to mind of the many that don't have quite enough to eat, or choose some days to eat and forgo having money for something else, or some days choosing to let their children eat while they pretend "I wasn't really that hungry anyway".  Choices that so far I haven't had to make.   I am not talking about becoming a wet blanket on the sensual, God given delight of eating, and there are times to celebrate and eat with a happy abandon.  Thank God for the great gift of delicious food and fellowship with friends!  But in daily life allowing yourself to have just a bit less is an acknowledgement to God that we are appreciative of even just a little bit of food, of the just-enough-to-sustain-us is a way to say that we are not so attached to the earth and to our bellies. I have been eating small portions at each meal and some days skipping the midday meal entirely. I am not giving up eating or trying to endanger my health, or deny my body what it reasonably needs!  I am trying to eat just enough to know I'm getting the nutrition I need to get through a long day of work and the responsibilities.  But not more, and sometimes just a little bit less.  I am not perfect in this! I do love to nibble, I love flavors and textures and sometimes the yearning for the taste of food wins out over actual hunger as a driver! But during this amazing, remarkable season of Lent, I try to watch it.  I try to think twice and be grateful for what is given, not automatically heap more on the plate.  This is my attempt through the season of Lent to draw a little closer to what I really need in life, and that is God, not another helping of pasta!    Thank you God for the understanding that we are like a vapor, soon to drift away and we could just as easily have much less food on our plates and still know you provide for us.  The many that have so little are equally loved and cared for by God as we who materially have so much. God's blessings are not demonstrated by a full plate or shopping cart, but by the full place He fills in our lives.