Christian Living

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Marisa learned from her mother that one day a week should be dedicated to shopping. What a chore! Thinking about and woefully dreading the shopping trip she heard herself chuckle as she thought what a great time/expended deal the shopping trip actually was when compared to all the other requirements of the food shopping experience. There was putting it all in the cabinets, then the preparing of the food, the eating of the meals, and the subsequent cleaning of the kitchen seven days a week times three per day! But then, the shopping must be done, food doesn’t float into the house.

“Food,” she mused, “is one of life’s necessities but generally the ‘getting’ of it is not that much fun.” “It might be different,” she thought, “if the food was easier to get into the house.” “It’s no wonder that the Personal Shopper business is booming!”

As she was driving to the shopping center anticipating what sales she would find there today, Marisa had a clear thought; you know one of those that come into your mind from nowhere and at the same time seems to powerfully explode into one's thoughts. The thought was this: “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” She did recall having heard that in the Church Service a few Sunday’s ago. “It’s easy to find the grocery store” she thought, “and it’s only a matter of choosing what I want to buy, but how do I find the words of God and why is it necessary?” It didn’t seem relevant to her.

Marisa’s contact with the religious community had been minimal and she did not understand the lingo they used. “Spiritual food;” calling Jesus, “the Bread of life.” She did not disapprove of it; she simply did not understand it.

The shopping trip was finished and she was pleased with the groceries she had purchased. She was confident that her family would enjoy the meals she could prepare for the upcoming week. The last chore to be done was the most detestable task of taking the groceries into the house and putting them in the proper places in the cabinets. “Details,” she spewed a breath through pursed lips.

She had just finished with the forced discipline of getting all the groceries into their proper places when her friend Maris called on the phone. They had immediately found friendship when they first met because of the commonality of their names.

Maris hoped they could go to the pool and suntan for an hour or so; Marisa thought it would be a great way to unwind before meal preparation time came yet once again. Maris was a kind person and Marisa enjoyed the times when they could visit. It was Maris with whom she occasionally attended the Worship Services at the Church.

While they were relaxing by the pool Marisa remembered the clear thought that had come to her earlier and she mentioned it to Maris. She quizzed Maris about what it could mean and Maris had a very good explanation.

Maris told her that we have two parts of us that require food, but they need different kinds of food: the part of us that everyone else sees needs taters and meat; the part of us that no one but God sees, the one that is the real “Us,” needs spiritual food. “If we do not feed our physical body,” Maris said, “the physical body will die of starvation; if we do not read the Word of God on a regular basis then our spiritual man does not thrive, and we are void of life on the inside of us.” Maris quoted Jesus, “The words that I speak unto you, they are life.”

Marisa decided to read a few verses of the Scriptures every day. She was a person to do whatever she felt was the right thing to do and it made sense to her that feeding her inside person was necessary.

Some days later she found herself chuckling again about shopping and food; she had come to realize that all too often the daily getting of her spiritual meals required as much self discipline as the trip to the grocery store. The only difference was that most often she enjoyed the consuming of the spiritual food, which she did not after all have to purchase, put away, or prepare. She smiled.

Ramona /06/2012

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