How often do we move from one thing to the next without stopping to thank God for His blessings? In this week’s Jolt of Faith+, we continue our reflections on creating a spiritual schedule by looking at one simple way to make gratitude part of our everyday lives: praying before we eat. Whether it’s a quick prayer before breakfast, grace around the dinner table, or a moment of thanks before a snack, these small pauses can help us recognize the many gifts God gives us throughout the day.

As we continue our reflections this month on our spiritual schedule, this week I’m going to talk about something that we may all take for granted – but we need to be intentional about, and that is stopping to give thanks to God for the many gifts, we get through the day. And one of the easiest ways we do that is stopping to say grace before we eat. Whether that just making a quick sign of the cross and praying to myself before my morning bagel or whether it’s a more formal sitting around the dining room table on a Sunday, or Thanksgiving praying grace is a family. Again, those important lessons of stopping before I receive God’s gifts of what I need for my body is just a great way for me to instill, gratitude into my daily life. And it’s so easy for all of us because we’re so busy. And there’s so many things pressing upon us. You just go from one event to another without stopping to give thanks to God for His blessings. And stopping those three times or even before snack throughout the day, before I eat something and recognizing it as a gift from God is a great way to instill gratitude into my spiritual schedule. We all have a lot to be thankful for. We also can overlook the things to be thankful for very easily in all of our lives. By making that part of my spiritual schedule, stopping and momentarily thanking God before I eat anything is a great way to make sure gratitude doesn’t get lost in the stress and the structure of my day, but it’s an essential part of my day, which it needs to be. Not a sermon, not a homily. Just that little Jolt of Faith, we all may need.