Word #6 - Grain

Grain is one of those words used in scripture...often.  While it might sound dated in our modernized ears, it makes sense. The culture and community didn't have the convenience I have; in my kitchen right now there are over 9 types of grain products...and that is just what I can see from where I sit at the table...not in the cabinets. 

I have realized in the past year how much I take grain for granted.  I love bread. I love starches. I love grain.  

But I have friends who don't do the gluten thing, and in working to honor their lifestyles, my mind has been blown in regards to grain. 

I had grain boxed in as wheat.  (I know, I know, I consider myself a foodie, but really. In my brain: grain = wheat = all the delicious starchy things I eat.)  

In the past years, grains has become a more familiar word.  We now talk about whole grains.  We now eat grains that 10 years ago were the kind of grains that only "health nuts" ate.  The fact that you can buy quinoa at "regular" grocery stores (and not in the "healthy" aisle) I think is a big deal. The fact that we are empowering people with the knowledge of why whole grain vs. the other stuff matters is a big deal.  

Grain, this ancient part of creation, is at work in this world. Even now:

"While U.S. consumers prize it as a delicious “super-food,” there is growing anxiety about the impact of the quinoa boom in the Andes, and particularly Bolivia, the world’s top producing country. The media has focused primarily on the fact that global demand is driving up the price of quinoa, placing it beyond the reach of poor Bolivians—even of quinoa farmers themselves—leaving them to consume nutritionally vacuous, but cheap, refined wheat products such as bread and pasta" (You can read more here.)

In thinking on why I put this word in the jar, it's probably because of things like that article mentions above (and I am a total quinoa eater too).  I think I am so conscious of this word grain because I daily remember those who go without: those who go without the knowledge of what good grain is and why it is good, those who go without the resources or ability to make the change to good grains, those who's very own economic standing is being challenged by another's own greed, and those who don't even have a speck of grain for themselves. 

So...grain.  I love it.  I don't love how I live in abundance of grain (and more) and so many go without.  I love how people take action with grain, they package meals, make sandwiches, they educate, and they SHARE.  I do love sharing. 

So as you go through your day, think about your grain.  Think about your abundance.  Think about the role grain plays in your household, your community, your nation, and your world. You might even spend some time thinking about what grain says about this creation God has created.  

And how we can be better stewards of it all.