Take 5

"So go ahead. Eat your food with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this!" 

Ecclesiastes 9:7

My favorite snack (or sometimes I eat it as a meal) is edamame.  I love it for its quickness to make (boil water, drop in, boil edamame for 5 minutes, drain [I use a spoon strainer], and sprinkle with sea salt), for its healthy benefits (click on this for benefits), and for its utter simplicity.  It's as delicious cold (I'll cook it and pack it for lunch the next day) as it is fresh out of the boiling water.  

But the best part of edamame is that after I drop the pods into the boiling water, I take that five minutes to be still with God.  I know that might seem crazy, but when do we just stop the busyness of our day and spend five minutes with God?  Edamame is my excuse, or rather, my reminder.  Since this snack/meal doesn't require any other attention than waiting, then I wait with God.  I'll journal, pray, or read His Word while I wait.  Those five minutes with God as I listen to the water bubbling and spitting a few feet away from me are five minutes of total peace.  Then, once it's over, I have a heart and tummy full of joy.