SNACK FOR A LIFETIME

From the first day I was born, and every day thereafter, my father and mother with their family of eight children read the Bible aloud together every day. Seven siblings and I learned to read this way. It influenced me, and even before I realized, it directed my life. By my twenties, my health pursuits became an adventure primarily because of Scripture.

At one point I traveled to Texas. I could type well and got a job at Link-Temco-Vought (LTV) in Dallas. There all the ways of the culture came up, including food and alcohol. Instead of going rogue, I decided to follow the Bible already planted in my head and heart. My spirit, soul and body needed to be fed. I saw good food described in Scripture.  For example, Ezekiel’s bread. God told Ezekiel, "Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof..." (Ezekiel 4:9). Food is also figurative, "And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst." (John 6:35). Physical bread and spiritual bread are a highlight in Scripture, in both the Old Testament and the New.

The Bible has vital information about food and health sprinkled all the way through and in surprising places. We can go to it with certainty. Here is dependable wisdom and knowledge because our Creator wrote it all for us. It is the “bottom line” in nutritional wisdom. “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”  (2 Peter 1:21).

The more you learn about nutritious food, its value to your health, the more you will enjoy it. Once getting it into your head and heart, once convinced, eating knowledgably, eating wisely becomes a habit. Habitually eat what is good, you will soon look forward to it, even crave it. Grab salted almonds or a crisp apple and cheddar cheese; the snack for a lifetime.