30 Days of Tasting

Day 16

This morning, I woke up with a mild headache and just didn’t feel quite right. So, I did my usual—opened a packet of Emergen-C, poured it into a glass with water, stirred and downed it. I’m now on my third packet of the day. This slightly sweet, fizzy potion is the focus of my writing on my sixteenth day of tasting.

There isn’t really anything remarkable about the taste. The one I have is raspberry flavored. I don’t drink it because of its exquisite taste. I drink it because of what it does—what it has inside that helps boost my immune system and fight off potential viral intruders. Perhaps some of its effect is more psychosomatic. I imagine I feel better when I take it.

We eat some things more for their benefit to our body than because of their delight to our palate. And there is a parallel with our spiritual lives. We participate in certain disciplines, not always because of their tantalizing excitement, but because we know they bring about numerous unseen benefits.

Take prayer, for instance. I don't know how it works. I don't always see that it does. Yet, I pray. I pray because I believe that a lot more happens than is always obvious. I pray, not because of how it tastes, but because of the impact it has on my heart and others. Even if I can’t point to any obvious answer to prayer, I am calmed and centered through turning to God in prayer. Like my friend Emergen-C, I believe in prayer. So, I keep downing it.