Junk Food

 

May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 115:14-15)

          I’m trying to figure out ways to eat more healthfully but without having to choke down meal after meal of food that disgusts me. Yesterday, the recommendation I read was to eat an all-bran cereal for breakfast. There are other sources of fiber, of course, but my reaction was, “Oh, please, no.” I ate bran muffins on an almost daily basis for years, and the idea doesn’t appeal. I clearly need to do some research.

          But the point here is that blessings are not always pleasing, exciting, fun, flavorful, or appealing. Flourishing isn’t about getting what you want. It’s about getting what you need. Is it being blessed if you can have the house and car of your dreams, but don’t have the health to enjoy them? When it comes to blessing, we get things upside down.

          Decades ago, Dr. Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs. The first things that we need are physiological: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, and excretion. The second is safety: security of body, of employment, or resources, of morality, of the family, of health, and of property. Third, he says we need love/belonging: friendship, family, sexual intimacy. Fourth is esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others. And last, he said we need self-actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts.

          I don’t think this hierarchy is correct. I haven’t worked out the details of what I believe is correct, but the most basic needs are spiritual. We need a relationship with God with all that it entails, salvation, sanctification, justification, reconciliation, etc. First and foremost, we need that which gives us eternal life, because without that, none of the rest matters.

          It may be that everything else can stay in the order he’s placed it. The question of the day is, how are we doing at meeting these needs? We go to church once a week, and maybe do a Bible study. Those are good things, but is that foundational level strong enough to hold everything else? If you could go to a spiritician (a spiritual physician) would he diagnose you as missing key nutrients, or of being spiritually obese and in need of exercise? Are you getting enough spiritual food? Enough spiritual water? Enough spiritual rest? Enough spiritual exercise? Enough spiritual life? Are we avoiding those things that will damage our spiritual health?

          Moving up from there, are we breathing right? Eating the right foods? Not eating the wrong foods? Getting enough water? Not drinking the stuff that’s bad for us? Is there enough fiber in our diet? That and water will go a long way toward making sure we excrete properly. Do we get enough sleep? Do we get enough healthy sex? (I suspect a lot of people settle for junk food in this area: porn (hard or soft), illicit relationships, imaginary relationships, hooking up, etc.)

          We tend to think we have this covered. We eat the meals we enjoy, and we groan at the idea of eating an all-bran cereal for breakfast. Our care for ourselves is automated, impulse-driven, and (to return to the theme above) oblivious to the blessings that God is bestowing. We’re not really seeking His best blessing, we’re seeking the blessing that “tastes good.”

          To try to change all of this is a huge, life-changing undertaking. At the moment, I’m trying to add a few good foods into my diet, hoping they will push out something that isn’t as good. I’m trying to drink a smoothie made of ½ c pomegranate juice and ½ cup mixed berries three days per week. The all-bran cereal may have to wait a bit. But I need to examine my spiritual health and see what not-so-fun blessings He’s given that I’m avoiding because the junk food tastes better.