We like to mix up the dinner time prayer at our house. Sometimes we sing a short song or say what we’re thankful for. Sometimes we say a traditional prayer. Sometimes we try something different.
Recently we tried a new exercise I wanted to teach you here today. The exercise was inspired by the video HOW TO MAKE A $1500 SANDWICH IN ONLY SIX MONTHS. It’s the incredible video of a man trying to create a sandwich absolutely from scratch including growing the wheat to grind into flour for the bread, killing the chicken, milking the cow for the cheese, etc. Take a look! Watching that video reminded me of all the things that go into the dinners we eat every day in our house and take for granted. It was a really easy exercise. All we did was say “Wow, take a look at what’s on our table! What are all of the things that had to happen in order to get it here?” We tried this on a Saturday morning breakfast and were eating egg casserole with potatoes, bacon and cheese along with OJ and coffee. We talked about how the chicken laid the eggs that were checked and put into cartons that were brought to the store where we bought them. We said “thank you, God, for the chickens.” We talked about how bacon comes from pigs and said “thank you, God, for the pigs.” Without much prompting, the boys made the connection to God when we were talking about the potatoes. We talked about how potatoes require soil, water, and sunlight and they offered that all of those things come from God.
Give it a try sometime and see how you like it! One thing I think would be good to add to this practice would be to talk a little about fair labor practices, or free range meat and eggs to get the discussion going about all of the ethical choices we have when we buy and prepare food. We didn’t do that this time, but I’m planning on that for next time.