Nourishment

A couple of years ago my sister and I were discussing the food we eat and how much of it is treated with hormones, insecticides etc. or is filled with preservatives and lots of other contaminates our bodies don't really need. She mentioned that when we say a blessing on our food, it is no small thing we are asking for when we pray that the food will "nourish and strengthen our bodies". We really, really need that blessing for our health and well being.

This came to my mind the other night at a stake meeting when it was presented that we needed to nourish, uphold and protect families. The stake leaders presented that along with defending the family we need to nourish our own families. The leader presenting the ideas on nourishment likened it to feeding our families and how if we prepare food for our family but they don't actually partake of it, it doesn't do any good. She also mentioned the need for prayer in our lives to give us the power we need to nourish our families. The almost redundant phrase in my family's blessings on the food was brought to my mind (that the food will nourish and strengthen our bodies and give us the strength we need). It was an aha moment for me. Should we not also pray before scripture study that the words will 'nourish and strengthen our spirits'? And then in the same way that the blessings on our food help us get the most out of the food, our scriptures study can have that same nourishing and strengthening power for our spirits. . . . which we greatly need in our world filled with contaminates and harmful influences. I've always known we should couple scripture study with prayer, but it became much clearer to me with this simple analogy.