Eradicating Hunger - A Lenten Devotional

As a professional, I have devoted a great deal of time and energy to issues regarding hunger, deprivation, and supporting people in their efforts to say “no” and set limits.  I have attempted to understand hunger from many different perspectives including both spiritual hunger as well as physical hunger.  It seems as if the sacrifice of food is connected to the idea of Lenten sacrifice for many people.  I often hear from a variety of people every year- “I am giving up chocolate, sugar, carbs, desserts, and any and all types of foods for Lent.”  In my experience this is contrary to the very essence of Lenten sacrifice.  Hunger, both physical and spiritual, is something to understand, heal from, and eradicate.  Hunger does not enhance our relationship with Christ.  Deprivation is brutal and isolating.  Too many limits- and too many “no” responses are restrictive.

As an adolescent, I began to think of Lent as an opportunity for enrichment- an opportunity to improve myself and thus improve my relationship with God.  I have learned that when I say “yes” to people and things, I enhance my life, I add things to my life and feel sensations such as satiety, abundance, and gratefulness.  It seems that the best way to give up things that are spiritually unhealthy is by actively adding things that are spiritually beneficial.  For example, what if instead of


giving up something for Lent- I add something that I need in my relationship with God, myself, and others.  To use the food metaphor- by adding healthy nutritious, high quality foods- I have less room in my life for empty foods that don’t nourish my body and thus, they are naturally given up. Lent is a commitment to Christ.  By saying yes, we commit to Christ and give up or sacrifice those things that interfere with that relationship.  So maybe life is less about limits and more about abundance and acceptance of Grace.  Perhaps Lent is about opening doors by saying yes and feeding oneself with Spiritual food instead of closing doors.  Lent is about fulfillment rather than depletion.  It is about saying yes to my life with Christ, yes to my community, and yes to the world. 

I will say yes to fighting hunger in my community locally and globally.  As long as hunger exists there will be increased numbers of child mortality, mothers with inadequate prenatal nourishment, children that struggle academically because their nutrition is so poor their brains are literally starved and their cognitive functioning is impaired.  By eradicating hunger we solve multiple problems simultaneously. 

On a local level, I will till the soil myself and commit to growing vegetables that can be shared and donated to the community action center as they are harvested.  Each time I am at the grocery store I will choose at least one food item that is of high nutritional quality to donate to the community action center.  I will set an example and encourage others around me to do the same. 

In the spirit of the starfish story that we all read and think about during Lent I will remember that every starfish I place back in the ocean counts.  No act is too small.  On a global level it is not only the large donations that make a difference but rather each small thoughtful step on a daily basis that makes a difference.  Hunger is such an enormous issue and our power to eradicate it is in the small everyday actions we take when we think of others.

 - Anne Lewis Moore, PsyD