Prayer for Food

Andreas Stech [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Lord, I pray for enough food for everybody.

I pray that, in Australia, the cost of food may be kept affordable. I pray that those who are struggling to buy nutritious food for their families or who have little money left over once the groceries are bought may find new ways to reduce their grocery bills and use the food they buy more wisely. I pray that the cost of groceries do not rise so high that it causes too much pressure on Australians.

Lord, I pray that we may find cheap and sustainable ways of producing food for the whole world. But I also pray that we do not neglect the health of the land, the health of people in other countries and the health of future generations. May our food production reflect Your care for the whole world, not just people living in the western world today.

Lord, I pray that we eat wisely. I pray that we turn to those foods that are truly good for us and good for the land. Help us see and appreciate each stage of the production and consumption of food, instead of seeing it only as a product on our supermarket shelves. Help us not to waste food through each of those production cycles. I pray that we really start to value food and appreciation what has gone into making that food, instead of just seeing it as a disposable and unimportant item.

Lord, I pray for those who are starving. I pray that they are not ignored by the rest of the world, but that we see and care for their situation. Give us the eyes to see those who are starving in the way that You do. I pray that they may have enough food to eat and that the western world does everything it can to help them receive this. I pray also for those people whose children have died starvation, that they may receive comfort. But I also pray that everything possible is done to lessen the amount of people dying from starvation every day.

I also pray that as we eat our food that we feed not only our bodies, but our souls. I pray that the way we eat helps us to feed those souls. May we eat nutritious food with people we love, remembering to be thankful for what we have. But I also pray that You continue to nourish our souls, giving us the spiritual food we need. And I pray that everybody who comes to You, with hands outstretched, in spiritual hunger, receives what they need from You.

Feel our bodies, Lord, but also feed our souls.  

Amen.