[Note: since I discovered this wonderful idea of posting a daily thank you column during the month of November the day after it started, I've decided to do a catch-up day. I know that I posted a "thanks" this morning, but I'm doing one this evening as well, and then maybe I'll stay caught up.]

#3: I am thankful for food.

I don't know about you, but we pause before meals to thank God for our food. I'm reminded of the old black and white movie in which the farmer sits down to dinner with the family and they pause for a blessing. The farmer says, "Well, Lord, I tilled the ground, I planted it, I fertilized it, I cultivated it . . . as far as I can tell, You didn't really do anything, but thank You anyway. Amen." He missed the point, but then so do we sometimes.

The conversation goes: "Who'll say grace today? Jimmy?" To which Jimmy bows his head and says, "Grace."

Even so, we pause for thanksgiving before our meals. We do it at home, which I'm sure many of you do as well. We also do it in restaurants. I've been privy to conversations where people suggest that there is a pretension among Christians who make it a point to pause for prayer in restaurants. As if it is simply for show. And I guess that there are those among the number of Christians who would like others to see that they are doing their "Christian duty" even when they are out in public. However, to me it is the natural thing to take a moment to thank the Maker and Provider of all things (including the meal) as we sit down to consume the blessings.

After all, I like food (especially pie), and I like to be healthy and well-fed, so why shouldn't I be thankful? I'm thankful because it tastes good. I'm thankful that even when it doesn't taste good, it's still good for me. I'm thankful because I have the wherewithal to have the food supply on the table and the physical acumen to get it from the table to my face. And so I'm thankful. Most likely not always properly thankful--like the time that my older brother and I were having a nice dinner together (he was paying which made it even nicer) and he asked me to give thanks. I prayed (longer than usual at mealtime which is meant to be thanks for the meal, but I hadn't seen my brother for awhile), thanking God for the fellowship with my brother, for family, and for any number of other things. After "closing" my prayer with a hearty "Amen!" I looked at my brother and said, "oops, I forgot the food." To which he replied, "Well, if God doesn't know what to do with it, I'm sure not going to tell Him."

So when you sit down to your meal--any meal, be it breakfast, lunch or supper, meager or feast, baloney sandwiches or rib-eye steak--give thanks. It's okay. You won't embarrass anyone, and your food might taste better. If you need a little help, start with this one: "Bless the meat, bless the skin," now open the mouth and cram it in.