A Prayer of Faith

I’ve spent the last three and a half months of my pregnancy detesting most any food that came to mind except for a few highly processed comfort foods (ie. Saltines and TopRamen). Following most every “meal” I felt nauseous and dreaded the next encounter I might have with what could be loosely catagorized as “food” (and that next encounter would likely be with what I had just eaten once it came back up).

Over the past week my nausea has subsided, and I have learned to eat food again for reasons other than medicating my sickness. The happiness I felt after drinking a freshly squeezed orange juice or fresh veggies or a fruit salad without the anticipation of any pain that would customarily follow was a feeling of pure delight. I never thought that a simple sandwich could taste so good, or a smoothie, or even mashed potatoes. I was amazed. Astonished.

This gives a new depth of understanding for me of the fruit of the Tree of Life. Wouldn’t you think that the journey taken in order to arrive at the Tree of Life was pretty treacherous? Holding onto the rod trying to keep your loved ones from falling for the tricks of the residents of the great and spacious building? Perhaps watching someone close to you fall away into the fog? Maybe even contemplating giving up yourself? Was it not an emotionally taxing trip as well as a physically challenging feat? And then I think of that fruit. Oh, that yummy yummy fruit. The thought of how that fruit must have tasted makes my mouth water. I’ve always understood the symbolic meaning of the fruit of the Tree of Life, but the physical reality of the enjoyment of tasting food again for the first time has imbued my senses and broadened my spiritual understanding.

Not only has eating once again been an instantaneous joy for me, but over the past several days I have gradually felt stronger each day and healthier with energy I had grown accustomed to lacking. I feel revived in my mind and in my limbs (except that yesterday I dropped a platform on my toe and lost an entire toe nail. Sigh, just in time for sandal season). I’m sure the fruit from the Tree of Life gave both physical and spiritual relief to the weary travelers just as Christ’s love buoys us up in so many ways throughout a lifetime.

I hope as time moves on I will continue to be thankful for every morsel I place in my mouth. Food will not always taste this good. I’m sure the effect will wear with time. But I’ll never forget the feelings that have provoked me nearly to tears upon crunching into the first bite of a simple green apple….mmmmm.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Whisperings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.