It is never lost on me how every meal is a gift.  Have you recently sat down to supper though and quietly lamented, “this meal…again?”   Maybe it’s leftover soup or stew.  Maybe it’s the ‘ol standby staple casserole like my famous chicken spaghetti.  My family may blanch but I’ll go ahead and openly confess that while I make an extraordinary chicken spaghetti, it’s really not my favorite item to eat.  Maybe I’m just worn out from years of its existence.  Maybe because the process is an all-out, full-blown, multi-stepped event with various ingredients to gather and pots to clean up, I’m simply exhausted just thinking about it.  And although I put my heart and soul into creating it each time, I’m just not authentically full of cheer for chicken spaghetti (sorry, St. M and sis).

As we sit down to eat and my family is oohing-and-ahhing though, I choose to be grateful for chicken spaghetti in a different way.  Eating this meal, I am able to have fulfilling conversation with the ones I love while filling their bellies with a favorite main course.  Eating this meal, the grocery budget appreciates how additional meals are covered now with a couple of extra casseroles in the freezer (and some leftovers for lunch because the recipe makes a huge vat).  The biggest blessing is really how this meal warms and nourishes our physical bodies and soothes our souls as we partake together.

So on Day #5:  Do you have a “chicken spaghetti” in your life and what ways can you be grateful for it anyway? 

Here’s hoping you choose to focus on those grateful blessings of food big and small, on and around your dinner table each time you pull out your chair…even if it’s a big dollop of chicken spaghetti on your plate. 🙂