Welcome to Five for Flying!  I am thrilled you’ve found your way to me, and hope you stay for just a few minutes and rest your weary soul.  How do I know you are weary?  Because sisters/brothers, we live in a weary-ing world.  Food, kids, work, food, more work, more kids, more food!  Why must we eat so often?   I think that’s God’s secret formula for making us breathe, take a break, think about nourishing ourselves for just 10 minutes 3 times a day.

What a brilliant idea, in theory.

In practice, I say HOLD THE PHONE!  They need to eat again!?!  These children don’t eat 3 times a day, they eat 3,000 times a day.  It seems my feet never leave the kitchen, my hands never stop peeling bananas, opening packages, and spreading peanut butter.

So I wrote God a little note about this exhausting situation:

Dear God,

It’s me, Kristen. Hey i know you are busy but seriously, can you tone down the nutritional needs of humans.  I don’t mean over the expanse of time, I mean NOW.  Like right now, because my kids are driving me crazy.  And God, don’t think I’m not grateful. I love all this yummy stuff that we have to eat… I mean chocolate chip cookies… seriously… THANK YOU!  But, could you just dump the nutritional content of say broccoli or kale into chocolate chip cookies.  It would make this weary mom less weary.   If I’m less weary I PROMISE I’ll be so much nice/smarter/healthier/kinder/generous, you get the drift.  Let’s just stop all this eating.  Ok?

-Weary & Kinda Sorta Tired of Cooking

I imagine I’ll get this response

Dear Weary & Kinda Sorta Tired of Cooking,

So, I get it.  Really, I get it.  Food is life giving nourishment, but like anything great, it can be abused.  But… please don’t stop feeding the children.  Because I made those three just for you, and it would be a shame to mess that up. So for the love of God… (har har har har -that’s how God laughs in my head “har har har”) DON’T STOP FEEDING THE CHILDREN. 

-God

P.S.  I know who you really are.

I imagine I would send this text to my husband

HOLY CRAP! I mean holy moly, I mean holy… holy… holy… no seriously.  I just got an e-mail FROM GOD… about child abuse. – this is not a laughing matter.  He said we have to keep feeding the children.  And now I’ve alerted him to the fact that I thought about not feeding the children.

He would respond

Seriously, This is a thing?  Also, You signed the note?

Me

Of Course I didn’t sign the note! I’m not an idiot! But He already knew.

Him

So…. What’s for dinner?

In all seriousness, I know food is necessary.  I even enjoy food, but the endless need for it is exhausting.  This morning, as usual I am faced with another hurried, wearying week of practices, food, school, food, meetings and more food.  I menu plan, I grocery shop (with coupons) I pack lunches, I prep breakfast before they even get out of bed, and prepare dinner while the big kids are at school and the littlest is napping.  It seems our lives are ALL about the food.

In one moment of clarity, while I was lovingly slapping peanut butter on bread and screaming, in my head, at the sister who eats only Ramen noodles, yogurt, and Nutella (not together… yuck)  it came to me.  In our modern western world where we enjoy running water, superstores and fast food restaurants, food is still our thing.  It’s the thing, maybe the only thing, that ties us together.  For all human eternity, we’ve needed nourishment.  It bonded a family, the necessity of it created community, and the protection of it have started wars.  Food is our heritage.  It is not only a necessity, but a link to all that makes us communally whole.

Apparently I can’t stop feeding the children.  So maybe, just maybe, I’ll look at feeding my family as a lesson not of self-preservation, but more as a way to lovingly create memories and wholeness with my tiny family that reminds us of our link to our human one.  Perhaps food with a greater purpose will give me life, instead of make me weary.