At a retirement dinner with colleagues last year, I was given a small cement brick with the words ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ indented into it. I had read the book by the same title and had not been overly impressed. However, as I have recently gazed at this gift new meaning seemed to pour forth, and some questions.
Eat
As living beings, eating is essential to maintaining life. We fortunate ones can choose what we eat. Do I respect my body enough to mainly eat only those things which are truly nourishing? Do I buy locally produced food? Do I limit the consumption of meat and animal products or consider eliminating these items entirely? Metaphorically speaking, what else am I ‘eating’ from books, movies, the ‘mass media’ and the internet? How well am I nourishing my thoughts? I have a choice.
Pray
As human beings, we seem to have an innate longing to connect with the ‘Divine’, to the ‘Source’, to ‘God’ however we name what Karl Rahner has coined as “the unfathomable holy mystery”. Do I make time everyday to remain in silence for a while? Do I seek times of solitude? Do I attempt to find the ‘sacred’ in the ‘ordinary’ stuff of everyday life? Do I regularly connect with a faith group to join in a shared worship experience? Do I engage with the natural world through gardening, visiting parks or hiking? I have a choice.
Love
Well what can be said of ‘love’, this English word with multiple meanings? Yes, we know about ‘romantic love’. And, perhaps our culture has become enslaved to the ‘love’ of ‘things’, to possessing material goods. One definition of ‘love’, however, is ‘agape’ that love that is selfless and unconditional, the ‘love’ that Jesus always talked about. With a well nourished body and soul, do I go forward to express this ‘agape’ love to all I meet? How are my relationships with others? Am I taking steps to work towards justice in the world? Do I move from meditation to action? I have a choice.
Maybe there is more to this saying,”Eat. Pray, Love”, and in those three small words, than I had initially grasped! Maybe we do just need to ‘Eat, Pray and Love’ ... intentionally.
Ann Steadman, Associate