What’s Your Hearth Cake?

08-08-2021Stewardship

“Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” I’ve been to a lot of meetings in my years of work in the Church, and you can take my word for it: the ones with snacks just seem to go better.

I don’t know what it is exactly. Maybe it’s just that people are in a more agreeable mood if you show up with donuts. Or maybe it’s about the very real sense of community and camaraderie that is created at a table where people are engaging in that most human of tasks eating beside one another. I think a big part of it comes down to the simple fact that we’re all just nicer people when we’re fed.

This rings true spiritually, too. We simply must remain fed if we, in turn, are to feed others. Think of a time when you have neglected your relationship with God when you haven’t fed yourself with whatever it is that you need to remain committed to the journey of a Christian life. Is it Mass attendance? Is it prayer or Scripture reading? Is it time with your small group, or conversation with a trusted friend who knows your soul? What sustains your ability to be a good disciple, a good steward? What inspires you to give more freely, to love more abundantly?

Whatever it is, that’s your hearth cake. That’s your jug of water. Don’t neglect it. The Angel of the Lord is nudging you in your sleep: “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”

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