World Food Day is celebrated annually to commemorate the founding of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation. This organisation promotes worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer hunger and for the need to ensure healthy diets for all.
Food – how important and essential it is for us all and what an important part it plays in all our lives. Sadly, we are aware of so much need and hunger in our world today. We see tragic images of hungry and starving children, famine and poverty in the media and we are also aware of needs around us as we collect for foodbanks and charities locally. All this, despite us knowing that the world produces enough to feed everyone. On the other hand, we are aware of the increasing problem of obesity, waste of food and poor environmental awareness in some food production methods. As Mahatma Gandhi put it: ‘The world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.’ Somehow our food systems are out of balance. Somehow, we have got things wrong.
If we look at the wider picture of the world around us, does the warning given by the writer of Proverbs 30 (written thousands of years ago) have any significance in our society and lives around us now? The writer appears to be saying that there needs to be a perfect balance in life between riches and poverty, excess and need. This certainly seems of relevance in our world and lives today. These words in Proverbs tell us that when the balance is not correct, both riches and poverty can both be an obstacle to our relationship with God. I wonder, is that where we are going wrong? When we reflect on our own lives, has there been a time when we have had more riches than we need? In that time of plenty, did the need for God become second place or even forgotten? Possibly, even a time when the desire for more wealth, or greater consumption became the focus of life? Or can we identify with the feeling of desperate worry about how to provide for our family? If we just pause and think now on what ‘neither poverty nor riches’ in verse 8 means for our lives, what is ‘needful’ for us right now?
(Reflection written by Ros Hughes)
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