neat pic!

About a week ago, I came across this image on Google+:

I don't know who created it.  I read through a number of comments on the photo, some positive, some negative, with different people interpreting it different ways.  I don't know what the original intent was.  But I know my reaction when I saw it, "Yes! Love it!".

We live in an increasingly interconnected world.  100 years ago, Americans would have typically lived on a farm, gaining most of their daily sustenance by their own hard work on their own land.  People all over the world, in fact, have lived this way for thousands of years.  Interaction with others was largely limited by geography.  And in these times and places, Christians all over the world would pause before a meal and say a word of thanks to their creator.  Prayer before a meal is still common among evangelical Christians, of course.  The act serves to remind us, daily, that all we have comes from God, and we take the opportunity to align our attitudes toward one of thankfulness.  In the Lord's prayer, Jesus Christ directed his disciples to pray a prayer of thanksgiving for their daily bread.  Gratitude is one of the more important attitudes to develop in life.

But today, our daily bread doesn't directly come from our own hard work on our own land.  Food comes from the store!  And that food is brought to us by thousands of others who are doing the direct work of planting & harvesting.  It is easy to forget that there are so many others who play a part in our meals.  And not only should our thankful attitude be extended to God, but also to those who've done the direct, hard work, who might even live in a different country and culture.  As a white, middle class American, I need to be grateful for those take part in growing & harvesting the food I eat, also because many of the folks doing this are probably less well off than I am.  And I need to let that attitude of thanks stew deep in my mind, allowing it to work its way into other thought patterns, and eventually come out in word & actions that I take.  The person who harvests my food might just be from a nation somewhere in Latin America, and might be named Jesus, a fairly common Spanish name.  Both Jesus the Christ and Jesus the hispanic worker deserve my gratitude for their part in proving me the meal I'm about to eat.