Lunch

As I sit with my children at the lunch table, looking on at one corner nibbled away from half mushed-up, half torn-to-shreads peanut butter and jelly sandwich that once was perfectly edible, I sit in awe at the wastefulness of my children. Like myself, they have never felt the true pangs of hunger and therefore do not know the value of what is being laid before them. A simple sandwich is nothing to them in light of the toys and other adventures that await, ready to serve their pleasures. So one bite of sandwich that will serve to take away any momentary hunger lust is enough, because they assume their will be more food later if their heart so desires to ask mommy to open the fridge or pantry for any assortment of nutrition. How differently they live, how differently WE live than those whom Jesus commands us to remember, serve, and love. To see the gift of food laid before my children and to see them squander, in ignorance, causes me to ask "What, Lord, am I taking for granted? What am I unthankful for that you have given? What gift of yours have I treated with reckless abandon and thoughtlessness?"
I think on the vast amount of TIME You have gifted me with, the STRENGTH You have given me, the MIND You have formed within me, the FINANCES, the RESOURCES that are the means of your provision, and ultimately YOUR SPIRIT within...all these you have given. Why, in practice, do I settle to think the best hunting rig is a better use of money, over setting out for the mission field? Why do I rest in spiritual accomplishment based on future plans that have yet to come and thus squander the time I now have? Why do I live and eat as though my strength will be with me always, though I am surrounded by constant reminders that it is not so?
Like children squandering a simple meal, day by day, so I wonder what I/we squander that God has so graciously given?