potluck Archives - Diana Derringer

Potluck

February 27, 2023 Diana Derringer Comments 8 comments

Do you enjoy potluck meals? If you grew up in a large extended family like I did, you understand potluck. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends from everywhere bring food. Lots of food. Stick to your ribs food.

Attend church potlucks, and you get a little taste of heaven on earth. Dishes that weigh down tables, plus fellowship with other believers, fill both body and soul.

Friends, co-workers, and neighbors also create great potlucks. Food and fun abound.

Potlucks may be inside, outside, or on a hillside. We once invited neighbors to a potluck picnic on top of the hill behind our house. A farm wagon served as our table. Everyone enjoyed the scenery as well as multiple plates of country cooking.

Potluck refers to a shared meal with dishes brought by those who attend.

You bring whatever dish you desire. Although unplanned, the meal usually includes plenty of everything. No one stresses, because the meal is casual and everyone helps.

Potluck (sometimes written as pot luck) means to take a chance on an uncertain outcome.

Of course, if you attend a potluck meal, you take your chances on what you get to eat. However, this also refers to other unknowns, including:

Shopping
Travel
Work
Any situation with little information but high hopes

You have one certain outcome available to you.

If you trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, you never have to guess. You never have to face unknowns alone. Plus, God has planned a banquet for you and other believers in heaven.

“Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 14:15 NIV).

Thanks to Brad Leverett for the suggestion. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

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Eyes Bigger than Our Belly

February 21, 2022 Diana Derringer Comments 2 comments

Many times, our eyes are bigger than our belly. We see good food and want it. All of it. The more we see, the more we want. This happens frequently at:

Buffets with endless choices
Thanksgiving feasts
Potluck dinners where everyone brings food
Family meals with all our childhood favorites
Cookouts with piping hot food from a grill

Eating small amounts at such events takes more willpower than many of us possess. Instead, we fill our plates to the top and eat until we feel like we will pop.

The taste is wonderful. The misery later, not so great.

Eyes bigger than our belly means we take more food than we can eat.

Eyes bigger than our stomach means the same.

We love what we see. We want to eat everything we see. Yet, we cannot possibly digest all we pile on our plates.

Rather than eating until we get sick, why not share our food with others?

Most communities have food pantries or crisis centers to help the hungry. Churches frequently sponsor food programs. We may have neighbors who would enjoy our extra.

Instead of eyes bigger than our belly, why not hearts bigger than our hunger? A little food for thought for all of us.

“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10 NIV).

Thanks to Carole Fite for the suggestion and to Diann Paxton with Caterpillar Crossing for the photo.

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