bread

two verses we've been ruminating on lately:

""He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread; but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."

--Proverbs 12:11

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labor for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight in fatness."

--Isaiah 55:2

I'm feeling especially rebuked by these today. After Dan left, I meant to do three things this morning: read the Bible, write, and do a couple of things on the computer. I foolishly decided to do the things on the computer first, and now, one wasted hour later, I've lost the morning's clean, new feeling of momentum and I feel sluggish and dull and glutted.

Why do we do that? Why do we choose to follow after the things that don't nourish us any? How can I hunger for what is good and whole so much, and yet neglect to tend those things?

I'm more and more convinced that the reflection of God in us desperately desires productivity (not in the sense of just busy-ness but in the sense of actually producing good things and good life), while our fallen nature desires anything that allows us to consume and to consume, without then multiplying what we have received into further creation.