Chicken is Today's Manna

Tonight’s lesson at our church’s children’s program was about the complaints of the Israelites as they wandered in the desert (Exodus 16).  Hearing their hunger complaints, God provided quail and a food called “manna” for them.  It was more than sufficient for the day, so God said not to hold any over for the next day because He would provide for them again.  Some did not believe the Lord, however, so they hid an extra portion for the next day.  Overnight their leftovers rotted and became infested with worms.  Despite their complaints and lack of faith in God’s provision, God continued to provide for their needs.  He even made the manna last TWO days to accommodate the Sabbath.  The tidy little lesson for the kids: God is faithful, so we shouldn’t complain. Little did I know that God was going to use our sweet Z to drive home that point.

We loaded our family into the car after dinner at church.  As usual, we brought the twins' picnic while the rest of us ate what was served to the congregation.  As I pulled away from the curb, completely randomly, three year-old Z declared: "I'm GREAT.  'know why I great?  I great because I ate chickeeeen, and leeeeeeaves, and applesaauuuuce, and rice milk." 

Let me break this down for you.  They had broiled boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Plain romaine lettuce leaves without dressing.  Natural applesauce.  And plain rice milk (not vanilla flavored). 

Thank you, Lord, for his thankful heart.

Even as I packed their dinner tonight I had a complaining spirit.  I wondered when I would be able to give them something more exciting than this plain, bland menu.  But the truth is they eat healthier than the rest of us in our house.  They’ve never had a preservative other than salt.  They only eat foods from the produce and meat departments.  Truly their menu is the Lord’s manna – it is sufficient for them.

A woman in a Bible study I attended last spring heard some of our food allergy woes, and she said, “Is not life more than food?”  And she pointed me to the Sermon on the Mount.  I’ve read it so many times before, but never with a food allergy lens.  Matthew 6:25 ESV says:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”    www.biblegateway.com

I posted this scripture above my kitchen sink to remind me to ditch the anxiety and trust the Lord, yet I still hit our latest snag and I fell back to my grumbling spirit.  We call it a “dark cloud” moment when we come across yet another discouraging thing in the world of food allergies.  Our latest dark cloud was discovering that Z is allergic to cinnamon, and then learning that it shares a food family with avocados, to which I already knew he was allergic.  Had I known about food families ahead of time I may have had an opportunity to spare him the cinnamon reaction, or at least have had a more informed decision about trying it.  So now I have set about familiarizing myself with food families and “common cross-reactivity” before we try anything else…grrrrrrrr.  I feel like I should have known these concepts YEARS ago, yet I have to stumble across “food families” on the internet while searching for “cinnamon allergy.”  It was just a small dark cloud compared to others in the past, but it was a dark cloud nonetheless.   

But there’s another great scripture for my dark cloud days that often pops into my mind:

Philippians 2:14-15 ESV says: Do all things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Ouch.

I’ve said so many times that “I just need to vent,” and I do just that.  I vent.  But does it really help?  Often I get more stirred up, more frustrated with my helplessness and more irritated with allergists who can really only TEST and are pretty much worthless in the realm of actually living with allergies or discerning them in the real world. 

Sigh.  See?  There I go again.  It’s a loose trigger. 

But then there’s my sweet Z.  He has the most severe allergies that keep us hopping, yet he gets in my car after yet another meal of more of the same, and he’s "great."  He reminds me that for some, including my twins, tonight's dinner is a banquet. 

Z also reminded me that for today anaphylaxis was not our reality.  Tonight’s chicken was Z’s manna.  And he is thankful, as am I.

Lord,

Thank you that Z was so delighted with his meal that he inspired me to think of you and all that you have done for our family.  Most of all, thank you for today’s manna.  It is sufficient.  Lord, you are sufficient.

Love,

G