The Pantry Isn't The Problem
Sunday’s sermon hit me harder than I expected. The pastor was teaching from John 15 where Jesus says: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” He talked about how branches are completely dependent on the vine. Disconnected branches don’t struggle, they die.
As I sat there listening, I wasn’t thinking about church attendance. I wasn’t thinking about Bible studies. I wasn’t even thinking about prayer.
I was thinking about a refrigerator.
Years ago we had just moved from Indianapolis to Southwest Ohio. Everything felt different. My husband had recently retired from the Air Force and it changed our whole lifestyle. We had moved states. We were navigating marriage challenges. The rhythms that had felt familiar were gone.
Down to the the people being different. The culture being different. Even healthcare is different here.
I remember walking into the kitchen one day. Nothing dramatic happened. No lightning bolt from heaven. No life-changing revelation.
I simply walked to the refrigerator and put my hand on the door handle.
Then a thought crossed my mind. “Why am I even here?”
I wasn’t physically hungry. I hadn’t skipped a meal. My blood sugar wasn’t low. My body wasn’t asking for food and yet there I stood with my hand on the refrigerator door.
For the first time in a long time, I paused instead of opening the refrigerator and I stood there and paid attention.
What I discovered wasn’t hunger… it was discomfort. Stress. Uncertainty. Loneliness. Grief. Fear. Everything in my world had changed and I didn’t know where to put the emotions. Food had always given me somewhere to put them. Food had always been my answer. I’d learned it early in my life and maybe you have, too.
Food is comfort.
Food is love.
Food is safety.
Food helps you avoid feeling things you don’t want to feel.
Looking back, I can trace that pattern all the way into childhood. I was a colicky baby. My family did what most loving families do and they tried to soothe the discomfort.
As I grew up, food remained one of the ways comfort was delivered. It wasn’t meant to be a harmful thing and quite frankly most families don’t mean for food to harm us, but over time beliefs get formed, and for me, the belief was imprinted that when life feels uncomfortable you eat.
When you’re sad, eat.
When you’re stressed, eat.
When you’re lonely, eat.
When you’re overwhelmed, eat.
That day in the kitchen was the first time I realized food wasn’t the problem but rather my relationship with discomfort was the problem.
The habit was me avoiding what I was feeling and that’s what came rushing back to me during Sunday’s sermon.
Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Branches produce fruit because they remain connected, not because they work harder.
I think many Christians approach health the same way we approach our spiritual life.
We try harder, create another plan or another checklist, make another promise. Set ourselves up for another Monday restart, all the while we’re disconnected from the very source of life.
Jesus didn’t say He came so we could survive. He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10).
I realized the enemy rarely starts by destroying someone’s life overnight. He starts with disconnection.
Disconnection from prayer.
Disconnection from rest.
Disconnection from community.
Disconnection from truth.
Disconnection from stewardship.
Disconnection from the body God entrusted to us.
Eventually the fruit begins disappearing. Peace disappears. Self-control disappears. Joy disappears. Energy disappears… and it all happens because the disconnected branches cannot thrive. They were never designed to do it unattached to Him.
This is why I believe health is bigger than food.
Health is stewardship.
Health is learning to pay attention.
Health is learning to sit with discomfort instead of numbing it.
Health is learning to bring our emotions to Jesus instead of the pantry.
Health is learning to remain connected to the Giver of Life every single day.
Daily. Every day spent abiding changes who we are becoming.
If you’ve been struggling with food, your weight, your energy, your habits, or your health, I want you to consider that the first question isn’t what should I eat? The first question you ask when it comes to your health should be, “Where have I become disconnected?”
The answer to that question changed my life. It may change yours too.
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Every Wednesday I write about faith, stewardship, root-cause health, food freedom, and learning to work with the body God gave you rather than fighting against it.
With you in the Wilderness,
Dr. Danielle