Sometimes I Forget To Eat

Written by Brooke Miller
FHF Regional Director in Southern California
brooke@finallyhomefoundation.net

Sometimes I forget to eat.  It’s not that I don’t like to eat.  I love food.  I mean, really, love it.  But the day starts, then keeps going. A phone call here, an email there, and a bunch of just-need-to-get-this-one-thing-done moments. You know, like checking my Facebook status and making sure I haven’t missed anything new on Instagram.  Important Things.

I don’t just love food itself.  I love the experience of food.  I am not a fancy cook and my taste buds aren’t overly cultured, but my favorite food is one I get to enjoy. I hate eating on the go. No time to savor. I have a pre-planned “last bite” with every meal: the bite to end all bites. The grand finale. The taste that the rest of the meal has been working up towards. Even if the meal is a bean and cheese burrito, I strategize to make sure that the last bite has just the right blend of bean, cheese, and tortilla. I’m not making this up.

So sometimes I forget to eat. Or better said, I keep pushing it back because the setting isn’t ideal. Because I don’t have room to savor. There are days that I end up not eating at all until dinner. And everyone knows what a hungry woman is like. I get cranky, and fidgety, and annoyed. I have no margin. Forget savoring, the carnivore must be fed.

My husband gets after me about this, mainly because he is the one the monster lashes out at in moments of extreme hunger he loves me and wants me to be my healthiest best. He believes in preventive plans of attack: He tells co-workers to make sure I take a lunch break, and will regularly text to see if I remembered breakfast. Also not something I’m making up. I’ve gotten better. Truly.

Funny that someone can love food so much but still forget to eat it.

But then, sometimes I forget to feed my soul, too. I love Jesus. I love His Word. I love His creation. But I often wait for ideal moments to sit down and savor, and if that ideal setting isn’t available, sometimes I don’t “eat.” I forget how much it matters to be still. I forget how much it matters to read Ancient Scripture and be surprised at just how alive it is. I forget how much it matters to write and process in my journal. I forget how much it matters to get outside for fresh air and fun.

When I forget, I get cranky and lethargic and altogether restless. It’s my soul’s way of saying “I’m hungry, feed me.”

Do you ever forget to eat? To take care of your physical and spiritual needs because someone else’s needs beat you to it?

At CAFO2014 (www.cafo.org), Dr. Karyn Purvis of TCU (www.tcu.edu) taught a session on nutrition and what a significant impact it has on children from, as she says, “hard places”. Many of you are caring for a child from a hard place right this moment. And for many of you, it’s pushing you right into your own hard place. And you need healthy food just as much as they do.

Our physical and spiritual nutrition have such a drastic impact on us because we are wired for food – good, healthy, soul-enriching food. And I mean both the physical apple and the spiritual apple.

So today is a simple question: what does your body need to eat? And what food does your soul need?

*For more resources on nutrition related to adoption or foster care, please visit adoptionnutrition.org, adoptionlearningpartners.org “Snack, Play, Love”, and empoweredtoconnect.org “Disarming Fear”