For much of my youth, young adult, and even into my adulthood, I could sit down in front of a pizza box, devour the contents, and, when it was all gone, could hardly remember what I ate or that I ate. I sort of inhaled it without noticing it. Sometimes I would look down at the empty box, (feeling totally stuffed), and wished that there was more pizza to enjoy.

The problem was that that I didn’t enjoy it, not that I needed more of it. Although I recognized this problem at times I didn’t seem to do anything about it or even think about it much. I just had to wait until I was hungry again and then I could repeat the ritual.

Perhaps I was more interested in relationship. Talking with my friends was more important than pizza, of course. But that wasn’t it. First of all, this would also happen even if I were alone. Second, at that age of my life I don’t think that I would have thought that relationship with people was more important than pizza.

A simple explanation might be that I was in too much of a hurry. Yes, I do think that it very much near the core of the problem. But that raises the question of “why?” What was I so much in a hurry about that I couldn’t enjoy a pizza?

There are, perhaps, other questions that I could have asked myself back then. What other things am I neglecting to enjoy because I’m in a hurry? And just why am I in a hurry at all about anything?

This isn’t a trivial subject. I have seen dads who are in too much of a “hurry” so that they don’t enjoy their children and both they, their children, the wife/mom, and all society hurts because dad is in a hurry – to make money, to buy that boat, to take a vacation, and to have fun with his children who he hardly knows. I would tell them, “forget the boat, enjoy your children now!”

But I think that it is all more subtle than that. It seems to be part of our culture, to be in a hurry for “the next thing” rather than to appreciate the thing before us. We’ve lost our ability to enjoy to the degree that we are rushing for something else.

I think that it really boils down to selfishness. We are discontent because we want more than all the fun and tasty things that we already have.

Take hospital food. (Please!) Seriously, would you starve yourself to death rather than eat it? Okay, maybe this is a bad example. I’ve had hospital food so bad that I thought that I might end up starving to death. No, I think that I need a more serious example.

The survivors who suffered in Nazi concentration camps may have complained about the food but they ate it with, I would think, some thankfulness that they had food. They survived. Maybe that is near the lowest I can go for an example. They might not “savor” the food because it tasted good but they would be thankful for whatever nutritional content that it contained.

We need to learn how to value the things before us, the things already in our hands, whether it is the people around us or the food before us. Rather than look hesitatingly at the food in front of us we should remember that we are not eating hospital food or, if we are eating hospital food, that we are not in a Nazi concentration camp. Rather than be discontent with our spouse, children, employer, etc., we should pray for them, ask God to bless them according to His will, and even learn to be thankful for them. (1 Peter 2:18-25)

“Carpe diem!” (“Seize the day!”) Slow down and learn to appreciate what you already have. Then you will begin to savor the flavor. Thank God for what you have and for the people around you and you will begin to see what He sees. Enjoy life now!

Next time you stop by to see me, bring me a pizza and watch me as I eat. I eat slowly, enjoying every bite as long as I can. I eat less this way, but enjoy more. Maybe that’s part of the reason that mom told us to chew every bite n number of times.