Today is National Brown Bag It Day. The beginnings of this day seem lost in obscurity but that doesn’t stop the National Day Calendar from proclaiming and promoting it. That’s okay because it brings back memories for me.
This day was often during the last week of school. The cafeteria was shutting down and we had to bring a “sack lunch” to school. As elementary student’s we looked forward to going to Stryker’s park on the north side of town. Sitting under the pavilion, we opened our sacks and started swapping foods. Mom always packed extra homemade cookies so my trade value increased.
The funniest thing I remember is that after the long walk to the park, my best friend had a pop in his bag. All the walking had shaken the pop and when he opened it, the geyser hit him just right that it blew his ball cap off his head. The look of shock was priceless! Remembering it still makes me smile.
After the meal, we were able to play. There were poles to climb, teeter totters and those animals on big springs, slides, swings, and the field to play kickball. It was always a lot of fun and the sack lunch was a signal that school was almost finished, and summer was about to begin.
Even at the park, there were a few of us who would bow our heads and pray before we ate. In my generation and with my class, this wasn’t unusual. Several kids would do this. In fact, my third grade teacher, Mrs. Stucky, LED prayer in the classroom before we would go to the cafeteria. To see a few kids bowing their heads at the park wasn’t so uncommon.
Why do we pray before we eat? A little boy was eating at grandma’s one day and he didn’t pray. He just dug into the food! Grandma scolded him a bit and asked, “You pray at home before you eat, don’t you? Why didn’t you pray before you ate here?” The little boy said, “I don’t have to, grandma. You’re a good cook!” Is that why we pray?
Jesus set the example of praying before we eat. At the feeding of the 5,000, Matthew
14:19-21 tells us, “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. (20) And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. (21) And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.” Jesus did this at the institution of the last supper as well.
The Apostle Paul followed the same pattern. In Acts 27:33-36, we read, “And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. (34) Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. (35) And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. (36) Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.”
The pattern is reversed in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 8:10 says, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.” Some people practice praying after the meal.
To cover their bases, there are some who will do both. They will pray before AND after the meal. Either way, the point of praying is to thank the Lord and acknowledge that He is the One who ultimately provided and prepared the meal. He gave the food and water for our nourishment and to sustain us.
We aren’t hogs at the trough. It only seems fitting to thank Him, even if we are at the park.
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