Today Burger King switched the wrappings of our burgers and Bikram and I realized it one bite too late. The guy at the counter simply dumped it in the bin and proceeded to make us new burgers.
I can only imagine the tons of food wasted here every day from the thousands (millions?) of restaurants. And I think about the millions of hungry people elsewhere. Here you have scores of people sweating it out in the gym to try to shake off the excess which they consume every day while many more do not even bother.
You have people driving gas-guzzling 4X4 pickups on the interstate, burning our planet’s precious fuel supply and contributing to global heating simply because they can.

I think of when Jesus multiplied the bread he asked his disciples to pick up the left-over pieces so that nothing will be wasted. Here you have the abundance of heaven making bread out of thin air and yet it is not to be wasted.

We buy more and more stuff that clutter our houses and our lives and waste our money trying to buy a good time, while the truly valuable things like friendship, beauty, simplicity and generosity are neglected. We waste our time with social networks, games and TV, and do not take time to listen to our children or to God’s voice.

But I am really thankful that despite my own sin and tons of bad karma and waste, God is still “wasting” his abundant grace on me. Maybe we think what a waste it was that God allowed His Son to die like that. But His sacrifice was the abundance of love and mercy necessary for us.

So my friends, sacrifice is not waste. If you choose what is best and give yourself for that, it may even imply giving up your dreams. But the dreams that our Creator has for us, the purpose for which He created us, is far superior to any ambition or dream that we could have.

I believe that we were created by God for God. Not to know Him is the ultimate waste – the waste of a life.

Please comment with your perspectives on waste or anything else.

Keep running
Stephan

P.S. I ran the Gumbo Flats Pumpkin run on Saturday here and was beaten by a girl! A forty two year old mother of several won the race. I got the mens age-category prize for 40 to 45 years and have a nice gold medal to prove it. Growing older is good for my running!