Lunch-Tok
September 30, 2024 at 10:19 a.m.
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A few weeks ago, my two oldest kids started full day school. We had to get used to a new schedule, learn how to use the bus and fill out about a thousand online forms. My most dreaded part of the new routine was packing a healthy, well-balanced lunch and two snacks that my kids would ACTUALLY eat every morning. I did what any millennial mom would do in this situation, I turned to TikTok for research and inspiration.
I found everything from ocean themed lunch boxes with spaghetti “seaweed”, octopuses cut out from hot dogs and a school of goldfish for snack, to pumpkin and bat shaped sandwiches, string cheese ghosts with googly eyes and clementine jack o lanterns for Halloween. I spent hours scrolling through different accounts determined to find the one that worked best for me and my family. In turn, I was staying up too late, waking up cranky and skipping my evening prayer time telling myself that I’d just throw in some extra prayer in the morning. With an Amazon cart full of the most popular lunch boxes with matching water bottles, ice packs and forks, sandwich cutters and animal fruit picks, I approached my husband with all my finds that we just had to buy. This is when he determined that I was in need of an intervention. He reminded me that we had everything we needed for the kids’ lunches, googly eyes in their fruit would probably scare them and there’s nothing we can do to make them be less picky about what they eat. He also suggested that I try to limit my phone time at night, especially because it was affecting my prayer and family time.
In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus challenges us to make changes in our lives by (literally) cutting things out that are keeping us away from Him. This might mean different things for different people. For some, it might be stepping away from a friend group that doesn’t encourage living out a moral lifestyle. For others, it’s working on addictions or habits that are taking time away from family, friends and God. And for some, it might even mean reworking a weekend sports schedule so that making it to Sunday Mass is more feasible.
For me, it was cutting out phone time at night. I wanted to keep in mind that social media, and other habits that may take up a lot of our time, are not inherently bad. Social media connects people from all around the world, it’s an artistic outlet and a great place for sharing ideas. It’s when it starts to take over that we need to step back and reprioritize. I ended up putting a timer on my social media use and made sure to take some time in prayer before reaching for my phone or a book to unwind at night.
The gospel was also a good reminder for me to strive to be the best example for my “little ones” and to work daily on bringing them closer to Christ. Fortunately for me, this has little to do with making them the perfect “TikTok” lunchbox and all with letting them know how loved they are! Now… what are we packing for lunch today?!
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Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
A few weeks ago, my two oldest kids started full day school. We had to get used to a new schedule, learn how to use the bus and fill out about a thousand online forms. My most dreaded part of the new routine was packing a healthy, well-balanced lunch and two snacks that my kids would ACTUALLY eat every morning. I did what any millennial mom would do in this situation, I turned to TikTok for research and inspiration.
I found everything from ocean themed lunch boxes with spaghetti “seaweed”, octopuses cut out from hot dogs and a school of goldfish for snack, to pumpkin and bat shaped sandwiches, string cheese ghosts with googly eyes and clementine jack o lanterns for Halloween. I spent hours scrolling through different accounts determined to find the one that worked best for me and my family. In turn, I was staying up too late, waking up cranky and skipping my evening prayer time telling myself that I’d just throw in some extra prayer in the morning. With an Amazon cart full of the most popular lunch boxes with matching water bottles, ice packs and forks, sandwich cutters and animal fruit picks, I approached my husband with all my finds that we just had to buy. This is when he determined that I was in need of an intervention. He reminded me that we had everything we needed for the kids’ lunches, googly eyes in their fruit would probably scare them and there’s nothing we can do to make them be less picky about what they eat. He also suggested that I try to limit my phone time at night, especially because it was affecting my prayer and family time.
In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus challenges us to make changes in our lives by (literally) cutting things out that are keeping us away from Him. This might mean different things for different people. For some, it might be stepping away from a friend group that doesn’t encourage living out a moral lifestyle. For others, it’s working on addictions or habits that are taking time away from family, friends and God. And for some, it might even mean reworking a weekend sports schedule so that making it to Sunday Mass is more feasible.
For me, it was cutting out phone time at night. I wanted to keep in mind that social media, and other habits that may take up a lot of our time, are not inherently bad. Social media connects people from all around the world, it’s an artistic outlet and a great place for sharing ideas. It’s when it starts to take over that we need to step back and reprioritize. I ended up putting a timer on my social media use and made sure to take some time in prayer before reaching for my phone or a book to unwind at night.
The gospel was also a good reminder for me to strive to be the best example for my “little ones” and to work daily on bringing them closer to Christ. Fortunately for me, this has little to do with making them the perfect “TikTok” lunchbox and all with letting them know how loved they are! Now… what are we packing for lunch today?!