Eating Tasteless Food-by Kent Crockett
My father had to undergo radiation treatments for throat cancer. The therapy damaged his taste buds so that he couldn’t taste food. His inability to enjoy a meal made eating a dreaded duty. The doctors told him his taste might return after the treatments were finished, but no one could say for certain.
Weeks passed, then months. Every meal became a forced feeding to keep him alive. After eating flavorless food for over a year, he sat down for dinner one evening. Reluctantly, he forced the fork inside his mouth and discovered that his taste had returned. What most people would call a bland dinner became the best meal he had eaten in his life.
Through losing his taste and then regaining it, my father learned to relish each morsel as never before. He became thankful for the ability to taste because he now had a reference point. He would never forget what it was like to eat tasteless food.
You don’t have to lose something in order to be thankful. You can develop a “taste” for your blessings by simply realizing what life would be like without them.
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I have long thought that a life without ups and downs, trials and tribulations, would be a life without the wonderful depth and color that God intends our lives to have. If everything was always wonderful, we would most likely be a thankless bunch of human beings. I look at some children I know who have always been sheltered from any of the less than perfect things in life and have been handed everything they could ever desire without having to work for it or wait for it. They seem to take everything for granted. Seldom, if ever, do they express or show gratitude.
In Philippians 4:12-13, Paul talks about this very thing when he states, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Paul learned to give thanks no matter what was going on in his life. And I am learning that lesson myself- have been for a very long time, as a matter of fact! The down times have definitely made the up times more wonderful and I am grateful for being able to acknowledge and embrace that fact. I pray that if you have not learned to be thankful in (not necessarily for) the bad times, you will be able to do so very soon!
Have a blessed day!
Cellebrate Life 