When I was younger, the great idea of TV Dinners was quite popular for many households. Allowing now for the possibility to exchange marvelous fun, engaging, thought-provoking conversation over a dinner table to simply shoving food down our neck in front of another latest invention – the color television.
These seemingly conventional ideas would change the course, quality, and direction of how we would soon use engagement. How we would interact with each other from now on and the content of food, could be forever changed. Becoming something that could be more quickly produced and consumed without all the hassle.
Certainly, our bulging waistlines could attest that quickly digested foods with high salt and fat content were quickly developing into something detrimental for our social and physical health. This discipline, or behavior would soon spin off into our spiritual life as well.
Fast is not fast enough nowadays. Rarely does anyone go inside of a fast-food establishment because that would take far too long to get a to-go order. In fact, the quality of an eatery oftentimes is based on not how good, or nutritional is the food – but on how fast is the drive thru.
The difference in the quality and direction of life can be found in the manner and time spent taking in a good, fresh meal. This is true of both physical and spiritual meals. 
Let’s consider. A good, quality 5 or 7-course meal takes time to digest properly and requires conversation to accomplish such a feat; but in the end there’s satisfaction. Spiritually speaking, if our manner is to shove some Jesus down into our spirit because it’s all time allows, then we’ve come to a dangerous place with our spiritual health.
Perhaps the length and discipline of engagement with what is good is something less familiar to many of us, because of previous place settings. We know that new habits form quickly and certainly are hard to change. Our diet both physical and spiritual are a picture of the style or manner, in how we ingest things. Our conscience, our shame, our inattentiveness -all can get exposed after some duration. Maybe too, our lack of inter-personal skills, or our transparency could cause us to shy away from the table of the Lord from which we may only want some one-sided conversation (like having dinner in front of a screen).
Jesus never considered showing up at the drive-thru of life to hurry through the chance of missing others. He purposed Himself to be present and to be directly involved with time spent at a meal (spiritual or otherwise). He certainly considers relationships as a sign of good health.
Spiritual and physical foods are intended to nourish us and accomplish their intended purposes. Strive today to be more engaged with the Bread of life, and the quality and direction will begin to produce enjoyment, satisfaction, and hunger for the next good, engaging meal.
