I like to cook. I’m a little bit of a food snob. That’s why it irks me when my culinary efforts are criticized. Today I found one of my children (who will remain nameless) flinging their dinner into the yard. It was really a very considerate act, because this food was going to “the termites, so they will get stuffed and not eat our door.” Of course, it was also very convenient for the flinger that this happened to be a meal they didn’t like. I’m quite sure the termites wouldn’t have gotten a bite of any meal involving peanut butter- the safety of our door notwithstanding.

Even with my insides boiling in frustration at the site of edamame peppering the welcome mat, I can’t help but think back to the good ole’ wandering Isrealites and the miracle of manna. Boy don’t I wish that manna would fall down on my dinner table every day around 5:30. Lovely manna. Free. Fresh. Not made from genetically modified ingredients. No artificial colors or flavors. Food straight from heaven. God’s cookin’. It’s got to be good stuff. Right?

Right.

Just ask the Isrealites. I can hear their sighs of content…wait a minute. Let me thumb over to Numbers for a second…chapter 11….verse 4….

…the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons,leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

Boo hoo. Not manna again. I want peanut butter.

Moms- there’s nothing new under the sun. Even God’s children pitched a fit about their dinner. Looking back at this story from a parent’s point of view, I can understand why it concludes with God stuffing them up to their noses in quail. Maybe the lesson we should learn is this: Serve peanut butter. Serve it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Serve it in a box with a fox on a train in the rain. Serve it until your household cries out for the wonderful manna of your culinary excellence. They may learn to appreciate their blessings. Or not. It may take 40 years of wandering from the pantry to the fridge for that to happen.