how to eat during the holidays

i had a reader ask me how to handle the holidays… the stuffing of turkey and face and stocking and the plates full of goodies full of hard: hard choices, these, knowing how and what to eat, and do any of us really know? and i think it boils down to this:

perspective. we need to remember, christmas is not about food. christmas is about a baby born to save us from all of the sorrow that makes us want to lose ourselves in food. christmas is about the God-turning-human to deliver us from all of the madness of a world gone wrong, the madness that makes us find the very gift of food confusing.

i listen to my husband, a man for whom food has never been anything but a tool for celebration, and i long for his eyes. the ones that see food as a gift.

if trent wants to eat, he eats. he listens to his body, and it tells him what it wants–protein, carbs, apparently no vegetables unless they’re raw, and pie and when he’s full, he’s full. and then he turns and leaves his plate where it belongs–in the sink–and he enjoys the rest of his day without thinking about food once until the next time he’s hungry.

so this christmas, let’s remember we were born for more than this world, for more than food, and to see food as just this: a gift. our bodies, tents of skin, which house the holy spirit…

as mary became home to Jesus, we can become home to Christ dwelling amongst us this christmas. so eat as though pregnant with God. eat as though feeding the holy spirit. eat as though you truly believe you are worth it: as though you believe God would have sent his son to be born, and to die, even if you were the last person on earth.

for he loves you that much.

so let’s love ourselves enough to eat.