Sunday Superposition

Edition #9: Hunger; finding balance

Hunger for God

The spiritual theme for this week is hunger.

For much of my life I’ve struggled with food and overeating. My preoccupation with food goes back as far as I can remember—I just plain love food. As a kid, I lived for treats during holidays and special occasions. I endured the misery of Russian ballet school just so that my grandmother would take me to Burger King afterward. The two times a year we went out for pizza because my mom didn’t feel like cooking were the two best days of the year. You get the idea.

My love of food wasn’t a problem until I was twelve years old and my diet was no longer subject to the strict control of my parents. After my parents divorced, my brother and I lived with our mom who was too busy getting her college degree and working two jobs to keep track of what we were doing every moment. I stole quarters from her stash of coins for the laundromat to buy potato chips and chocolate bars at the convenience store. I charged soda pop and more chocolate bars to her account at the corner grocery store. I always kept the amounts I stole or charged small enough to not raise any alarm, and got away with all this sneakiness for a few years until my brother and I moved in with our dad.