Imagine

One of my favorite songs of all times is John Lennon's "Imagine." For me, I have always been a dreamer like John. It would certainly be great these days to "Imagine all the people / Living life in peace" with "No need for greed or hunger."

As I think about the hunger element of our world today, I often feel guilty about the massive amounts of food we Americans consume, and even throw away each day. The Today show has recently featured a series on the idea that 60 is the new 40. My, I wish it were true. Both my husband and I weighed far less in our 40's than we do today. Experts tell us that, if we eat just 50 calories more each day, we'll gain 5 extra pounds a year. Garlan and I have averaged l 1/2 or 2 1/2 pounds of weight gain per year since we married in 1965. Today, with all the emphasis on obesity in our society, we try hard to eat lots of salads, fruit, and soups. We also exercise from 3-5 times a week. I walk 2 to 2 1/2 miles five days a week, and he goes to physical therapy for his back and hip problem to ride a stationary bicycle and do other upper and lower body exercises. Yet, in spite of our efforts, the metabolism of the new 40 has still not set in for us.

I was reading a few weeks back in Joanna Seibert's book Healing Presence when I noticed one of the lines from a prayer in The Book of Common Prayer under "The Blessing of the Marriage": " . . . bring them to that table where your saints feast for ever in your heavenly home." I love to imagine the idea presented there, which is actually very similar to the image in Psalm 23 where God prepares a table for us and anoints our heads with oil. The idea is similar also to the one in Albert Brooks' comedy Defending Your Life in which Meryl Streep plays the character of Julia who can eat forever after death anything she wants and never gain weight. Both of the images are quite appealing to me.