The pikas are eating my flowers! Every morning I find that they have carefully cut the flowers off the plants. They lay the stems down and bite the flowers off, then take them up to their homes in the rocks next to our house.
Have you ever seen a pika? They look like mice without tails, and they are about as big as a bunny. Every autumn, they gather flowers and grass. They lay them in stacks near their dens to dry, then they store them inside for winter food. They are smart. They know winter is coming when no flowers or grass will grow.
Did you know that once God told some people NOT to store food to eat? It was when he rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. There were 600,000 strong men in the group God rescued! There were also their wives, children, mothers and fathers. Thats a lot of people!
God did not take them to a big city where there was lots of food. He took them out into the wilderness. What would they drink? God brought water from a rock so they would not be thirsty. What would they eat? God sent a heavy dew at night. When it dried, it looked kind o like snow, only it was not cold.
“What is it?” they asked each other, touching the white stuff.
“It’s food from God,” Moses said. “Every morning, you should gather enough food for your family to eat that day. Don’t try to save any extra except on the sixth day, when you should gather enough for two days.”
The people gathered the white stuff. Yum! It tasted like honey cakes! Some people gathered more than they would need. But the next morning, the white stuff had spoiled and was stinky! On the sixth day, though, the white stuff lasted all the next day. Why? Because God wanted the people to rest and worship him on the seventh day. He made the food last longer so they wouldn’t have to work.
The Israelites decided to call the white stuff “manna”, which means, “why is it?” Every morning God sent manna from heaven. Every day the Israelites ate it for breakfast, lunch and supper.
God fed them one day at a time so that every day they would know just how much he loved them.
When we eat our food, our families buy it at the store or grow it in the garden But it is God who makes the food grow. And do you know know what? He loves it when we thank him for our food! Here is a little prayer you can say before meals to tell God “thank you”:
God loves us so much, he provides all we need. He’s always so kind and so good! We thank you, O God, for all that you’ve done. We thank you, O Lord, for this food. Amen.
Until our next Campfire, I’m sending you hugs & kisses,
Montana Gramma