Saying grace before meals is a common practice among most Christians. There are a lot of reasons we do this – glorifying God by acknowledging his gift of provision is usually the big one.

But did you know God has a more individual, physical reason for saying grace? That’s right – you heard me – physical.

The more your body is in stress mode, the more blood and energy are diverted from the digestive system – blood and energy that are critical for your digestive system to do its job.

Think about that a minute. When do we tend to eat? We eat breakfast as we are walking out the door to work or school – jacked up and focused on getting somewhere on time. We eat lunch between meetings and classes and errands – oftentimes on the go. We eat dinner at the end of the day after all the busy-ness of the day is done but usually before we have taken the time to wind down.

So we are often in fight-or-flight mode when our bodies are needing us to calm down and let the blood and energy be directed to the digestive system, allowing the nutrients from the food to be broken down and transported throughout the body.

As long as I can remember, meals have been a burdensome chore for me. Yes I love food, but I want to get it done and over so I can get onto the next thing.

Saying grace can help shift your mind out of fight-or-flight and utilize the resources it needs to help you be a better, healthier you.

So – here’s to making a commitment to calming my body and and saying grace before every meal.

(Thanks Dr. Frank for the valuable lesson today)