Hungry Anyone?

I was hungry today. That's not so unusual except I had just returned home with a car loaded down with groceries. In fact I had purchased so much stuff I needed a nap. (Yes, I shopped till I dropped.) As I lay down my tummy started rumbling to remind me I hadn't eaten lunch and it was after 2:00 pm. I tried to ignore it. And then I realized I couldn't. It seemed the harder I tried to tell myself I'd eat when I got up the louder the rumbles.

My hunger kept me from sleeping. And that got me thinking. How many people were experiencing the same predicament? Except how many had no idea where their next meal would come from. I didn't get up to eat. I lay there and wondered if I needed to embrace the moment and maybe even make it a regular thing. How else will I know what it feels like to go hungry? How quickly would I overlook hunger after living it if only for a few hours? I don't know what I would do if I wasn't able to get up and have that peanut butter sandwich and banana. Would I steal for food? Would I sell my belongings or, God forbid, my own flesh for a meal? Would I be able to hold my head up as I walked into the soup kitchen or would I hang my head in shame and humiliation?

The word "hunger" means something to me now. No one should go without in a land where there is plenty. I realize this is a bummer of a post on Thanksgiving Eve, but it's timely. Let us give thanks by sharing out of our abundance. Even a meager cupboard is extravagant to the one who has absolutely nothing.

If there had been even a piece of bread on my bedside table, I would have gladly eaten it. I would have welcomed a cup of water to assuage the rumblings in my tummy for a bit. Now, I pray I will be more compassionate, more open, less judgmental, less apathetic. I pray for a spirit of generosity and understanding. I pray for a heart like Jesus who gave His very last drop of blood to fill the greatest hunger one could ever know-the hunger of knowing God.

He loves, He cares, He gives. And as His child I should do no less.