Tuesday, February 21, 2006

A Lesson in Veggies

A lesson in Veggies
(Copy of a post someone wrote in one of my favorite places)


Ok, so for my Bible study I read Daniel 1 last night. Now I know that there is more to get out of Daniel than just what I am going to talk about, but I thought for parents this would be interesting. You see, so many kids refuse to eat their vegetables - well, right in the Bible there is a very good lesson on eating veggies and I am going to share that with you:

You see, Daniel was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar along with some other young men. When he got there he was suppose to be given food and wine from the Kings table, but he refused it - the reason (if you like history) is because Israelites did not eat from the Kings table as the food was first offered to one of many pagan gods thus making it unclean...well, the guard assigned to Daniel was scared of getting beheaded for not feeding Daniel so Daniel told him to give him and the other servants nothing but veggies for 10 days and see what happened.

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. Daniel 1:8-20 (NIV)

As you can see, Daniels choice of veggies left him incredibly smart and very favored! Ok, so in reality it was his choice not to defile himself with the food and drink of the King and because of that choice God blessed him and the other men - but for a lesson on eating veggies with your kids what better way to teach them than to take a courageous and heroic man like Daniel and tell them about how he ate his veggies and gained great knowledge and understanding of all kinds of things and also he gained great wisdom - man, if that isn't a reason to eat those green things then I don't know what is!
posted by Star @ 3:44 PM