Does your host culture value long, slow mealtimes? Perhaps you’ve had to adjust your expectations of what it looks like to be invited to someone’s home for dinner. A shared experience of two hours in some cultures might be closer to five hours in other cultures. Enjoying multiple courses, allowing time for food to finish cooking, incorporating multiple beverages during and after the meal, sharing long conversation even after the meal has finished – these elements can combine to make for an extended time around the table that might come as a surprise if you aren’t prepared for it! 

Conversely, many cultures struggle to grasp the appeal of fast food. Why would someone want to eat quickly? What could be more important than slowing down to sit around the table and enjoy a meal? Eating in the car or on-the-go is seen as bizarre by some cultures but as a convenient option by others.

I think we can all see the value in having a mixture of dining experiences in our lives. If every meal took five hours, we would have a hard time getting other things accomplished in a day. But if our eating consisted only of fast food, we would sacrifice fellowship opportunities around a table as well as more diverse and nutritious food!

As important as our physical nourishment is, we should view our spiritual nourishment as more so. Spending time in God’s Word feeds our souls and nourishes our spirits, strengthening us for our daily lives as Christians. My point is not to get into a discussion of Bible reading specifics but rather to encourage us that variety is good! Sometimes we might spend time in a “multi-course meal” of detailed Bible study or in reading large chunks of Scripture at once. Other times we might take a “fast food” approach of reading smaller quantities or even of meditating on one verse as we go about our day. May we be women who go regularly to the fountain of life that is God’s Word, drinking deeply and trusting that it will not return void.