Why do you eat?

I think a small mutiny is about to break out in the house over Honey Nut cheerios.
Seriously.

It's the third week of these cheerios, with only one small interval of corn flakes.

Corn flakes were cheaper so I tried switching us, only to find out that the box of corn flakes emptied far faster than the cheerios box so it really wasn't a savings. Plus it wasn't as filling. And when you're scrimping on things, filling is super helpful.

The kids however, are beginning to hate my cheerios. They want variety. They want to eat something different. And since cheerios are the only option, many a morning they try and skip breakfast altogether.

This is important to me, so read that again - Cheerios are the only option so since they don't like cheerios they try and skip breakfast altogether.

But, breakfast isn't about putting something in your mouth to taste.
It's about putting something in your stomach to survive.

Switching all of this over to spiritual terms, I got stuck on Exodus recently... I needed to read it to move through to the next book but, really um, wasn't enjoying myself too much and my heart certainly wasn't racing at the knowledge that Leviticus was next.

But you read to grow, to stay alive and vibrant in Christ, you cannot just skip from exciting story to story. What if you read about the battle of Jericho and Sampson, but didn't bother reading the Psalms because they bored you? What if you kept on reading the Psalms and Proverbs because you find them comforting, but skip the obscure books you might not think about usually like Ruth, or Jude? It's like living a constant life of eating cakes and hamburgers, but never the fiber and vegetables you need in order to be healthy.

Eating can be enjoyable, tasty, wonderful... but the reasons for eating should always be foremost in our minds. I'm reading, because I want to live, I want to be healthy. I do not want to be weak. So, even when the food looks a little bland - Numbers anyone?? - I eat, when it looks too complicated - Ezekiel?? - I eat anyway. When it looks too spicy - SoS, seriously, not for single readers - I eat.

Variety is wonderful, but it often leads to waste. When you hippity hop from preference to preference you miss out on some staples that your biblical diet absolutely needs.
So next time I'm tempted to turn my nose up at the cauliflower, I'll have to remember it's probably just the Deuteronomy of the food world. :)