Our FMF host Kate wrote beautifully about some scriptural instances of consume; I'm starting with a more mundane spin to consider what we consume, why, and the outcome. I haven't checked out the word for technicalities, but in the popular sense, if you consume something it's no longer out there because it's now inside you or maybe inside your home, your office, in your yard or a related space. You've basically eaten it up! And to what avail?
There's an ever-expanding range of "consumer movements" in professionalized and licensed areas such as law, mental health, nutrition, and education. Is something for a consumer necessarily something that's for sale in a retail outlet or as fee-for-service?
Retail for sale. We shop for food, clothing, home furnishings, or repairs because we need to consume them in order to survive—in order to have better lives. Related to consumption, food first comes to mind as it reaches for your appetite, your senses, your belly, and that satisfied feeling of being full; consuming food is a physical necessity. But beyond fueling your body and nourishing your mind, the very best happens when family, friends – sometimes strangers – join to create at least temporary community around that essential.
Dinner's ready! Y'all come and get some now, hear?!
We sometimes consume something in order to attain a greater good for all, especially when by-products of consuming include deeper understanding, more radical community, and a hope-filled future. You've eaten it up. And to what avail?
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42
the breaking of bread together is indeed a good use of consuming. :) FMF16
ReplyDeleteGood food for thought.
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