Vary Your Diet

Reading: Jeremiah 23:23-24 "Am I only a God nearby,” declares the Lord,  “and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord.  “Do not I fill heaven and earth?”declares the Lord.

We all have been told since we were kids that we should vary our diets. It's actually no healthier to eat only carrots every meal of the day everyday than it is to eat only a hamburger every meal of the day everyday. Besides, it's boring and we'd eventually just get tired of the whole idea of eating and keeping up our health.

I'm kind of this way in my spiritual path when it comes to religions. As a kid growing up, I was raised in one church and that was great--it gave me some really strong roots that have and will continue to guide me throughout life. When I became a teenager and started being with other kids more independent of parents, we had a little singing youth group that would go around to different churches to perform. We were made up of several different churches in our area. No one in our group was concerned that we were all coming from different religious backgrounds; in fact, it was pretty fascinating. Once I started college, my expanse widened. One of my good buddies was Jewish and he took me to his synagogue's Rosh Hashanah services--beautiful and interesting. At that time I was also friends with several Catholics and ended up with them at a mass more than once--beautiful and interesting as well. 

Now, well immersed into my "middle ages", my spiritual path has broadened from my early roots. It is remarkable to me how lives over thousands of years have molded into the various religious groups of today. On a somewhat related note, I also now love to cook. I especially enjoying cooking foods from different regions of the world; I enjoy how food is tied to peoples' history and their spiritual faiths and religions.

My mom taught me a long time ago that it's all about God--not about any specific rules or regulations that groups of people come up with. And like her, I believe that God is everywhere; even in the food we eat and in the ways we prepare it. 

Don't ever let your diet go stale. If you ever start feeling that you are less interested in your spiritual life because of something your particular church is or isn't doing, vary your diet a little. Because, as Kent M. Keith wrote in his Paradoxical Commandments: "You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway".

Peace be with you.