The Journey 279
Read: Psalms 63
Youths are always multifaceted and hence as I serving as youth chaplain, every day in my life, gives me some of the most unique experiences in life. As I relate with my youth friends and their families on a daily basis, one of the most wonderful and unique aspect of the youths is the diverse taste they have in terms of likes and dislikes. One of the diversities that you find in the youths is the diverse taste that they have with respect to the food that they like. I have come across number of youngsters here who still love Indian food like rice, curd curry[ moru], fish, kappa, avaial and so on, while at the same time you also have youngsters who cannot tolerate these Indian foods and love to eat Chinese, Italian and Thai foods. It is very common to hear the refrain from some parents that their children don't rice and fish and other vegetable items like thoran, and of all it is just lying in the refrigerator and the only people who eat this food is parents. I think each of us have a taste of food that we like. But whatever be your taste, are you caught in the habit or addiction of emotional eating?. Emotional eating is a new phenomena that has come about after a series of studies which suggest that people today eat food more to satisfy their emotional needs than biological needs. This may sound strange. CNN news has brought out a news items on emotional eating citing different researchers who stress the fact that today people tend to eat not just to satisfy their biological needs like hunger but also to satisfy their emotional needs like comfort, appreciation and overcoming guilt. These researchers say that when a mother feeds her baby she not only is giving the child food to satisfy hunger, but food also becomes an object of comfort and security. In instances like when the family doctor gives a candy to the child, soon after an injection shot, or when a parent buys a candy when the child shows good behavior, are different life situations in life when food was associated with emotions more than biological. Researches says that this cycle reoccurs later in life, when children who become adults, are denied emotional needs like security, attention by parents or significant others, or would want to overcome emotions like guilt, it is then the person starts the process of emotional eating. Eating not because one is hungry but ones emotional needs are not met and the only way to meet those needs is to start munching foods like Lays or anything that you can lay your hands on. Craving for food as a substitute for satisfying one emotional needs is not healthy. I think in the same way we also have spiritual need, to connect with God, to make our life meaningful and blessed. This is also a need given to us by God, but we need to ask whether we have that type of hunger and if we do have that spiritual hunger or need, how do we cater to it?
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our mediation is from two portion. Psalms 63 and Hebrews 13:7-14. In Psalms 63, the Psalmist describes his true feeling about his relationship with the Lord. His craving for the Lord is like a like a deer panting for water. Just as water satisfies the biological need of the deer, the need to have a relationship with the creator God satisfies ones spiritual need and hunger. Later in the verse [ 3-10], the psalmist tells that this spiritual hunger for the Lord is there because God’s loving kindness is better than life and that God has always been a help in times of trouble. I think the deep longing for an abiding relationship with the Lord is something that we all need to have in life. In the world of today, I have seen that sometime these craving for spiritual food, the craving for an abiding relationship with the Lord becomes more of an emotional need rather than spiritual and it is this that prompt people to go church hopping. In the letter to Hebrews, the writer pointedly states that we need to remember the people who instructed us in faith and who were model in life and we need to be careful about the different teaching that come out in the world today. Hence the author states that we should not be carried away by strange teachings but on the contrary one needs to grow and be strengthened in grace rather than food. When one has a spiritual need it is the God who gives us food to nourish our soul, it is the word of God that sustains us, it is the community of believers that strengthens us in our need. Just as we eat food to satisfy our emotional needs and not biological let us be also be careful that we don't substitute anything for the Lord because only He can give us bread from heaven to satisfy our spiritual needs.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
Youths are always multifaceted and hence as I serving as youth chaplain, every day in my life, gives me some of the most unique experiences in life. As I relate with my youth friends and their families on a daily basis, one of the most wonderful and unique aspect of the youths is the diverse taste they have in terms of likes and dislikes. One of the diversities that you find in the youths is the diverse taste that they have with respect to the food that they like. I have come across number of youngsters here who still love Indian food like rice, curd curry[ moru], fish, kappa, avaial and so on, while at the same time you also have youngsters who cannot tolerate these Indian foods and love to eat Chinese, Italian and Thai foods. It is very common to hear the refrain from some parents that their children don't rice and fish and other vegetable items like thoran, and of all it is just lying in the refrigerator and the only people who eat this food is parents. I think each of us have a taste of food that we like. But whatever be your taste, are you caught in the habit or addiction of emotional eating?. Emotional eating is a new phenomena that has come about after a series of studies which suggest that people today eat food more to satisfy their emotional needs than biological needs. This may sound strange. CNN news has brought out a news items on emotional eating citing different researchers who stress the fact that today people tend to eat not just to satisfy their biological needs like hunger but also to satisfy their emotional needs like comfort, appreciation and overcoming guilt. These researchers say that when a mother feeds her baby she not only is giving the child food to satisfy hunger, but food also becomes an object of comfort and security. In instances like when the family doctor gives a candy to the child, soon after an injection shot, or when a parent buys a candy when the child shows good behavior, are different life situations in life when food was associated with emotions more than biological. Researches says that this cycle reoccurs later in life, when children who become adults, are denied emotional needs like security, attention by parents or significant others, or would want to overcome emotions like guilt, it is then the person starts the process of emotional eating. Eating not because one is hungry but ones emotional needs are not met and the only way to meet those needs is to start munching foods like Lays or anything that you can lay your hands on. Craving for food as a substitute for satisfying one emotional needs is not healthy. I think in the same way we also have spiritual need, to connect with God, to make our life meaningful and blessed. This is also a need given to us by God, but we need to ask whether we have that type of hunger and if we do have that spiritual hunger or need, how do we cater to it?
We are meditating on the theme “ Transformed Living” and the portion that we shall use for our mediation is from two portion. Psalms 63 and Hebrews 13:7-14. In Psalms 63, the Psalmist describes his true feeling about his relationship with the Lord. His craving for the Lord is like a like a deer panting for water. Just as water satisfies the biological need of the deer, the need to have a relationship with the creator God satisfies ones spiritual need and hunger. Later in the verse [ 3-10], the psalmist tells that this spiritual hunger for the Lord is there because God’s loving kindness is better than life and that God has always been a help in times of trouble. I think the deep longing for an abiding relationship with the Lord is something that we all need to have in life. In the world of today, I have seen that sometime these craving for spiritual food, the craving for an abiding relationship with the Lord becomes more of an emotional need rather than spiritual and it is this that prompt people to go church hopping. In the letter to Hebrews, the writer pointedly states that we need to remember the people who instructed us in faith and who were model in life and we need to be careful about the different teaching that come out in the world today. Hence the author states that we should not be carried away by strange teachings but on the contrary one needs to grow and be strengthened in grace rather than food. When one has a spiritual need it is the God who gives us food to nourish our soul, it is the word of God that sustains us, it is the community of believers that strengthens us in our need. Just as we eat food to satisfy our emotional needs and not biological let us be also be careful that we don't substitute anything for the Lord because only He can give us bread from heaven to satisfy our spiritual needs.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla