A sign that God loves us

There is nothing like bacon.

It’s crispy and chewy and salty and explodes in a burst of flavor in your mouth.

It cooks quickly enough and then disappears from the table even faster.

As the bacon fries or bakes, the kitchen fills with the most delectable aroma. If you’re lucky, you’ll have a bacon-perfumed kitchen long after the meat itself has been eaten.

And who knows where the hot bacon goes? But it always disappears. It doesn’t matter whether it’s breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack. It can be the star of the show or a supporting character. Bacon is always welcome and never forgotten.

I ended up making some bacon as part of dinner last night, and I marveled—as I often do—how no one approached the table with a skeptical eye and a suspicious voice, asking, “What are we having for dinner?”

When bacon is on the menu, everyone knows what is for dinner without asking.

When bacon is on the menu, no one is complaining about finding something they like.

When bacon is on the menu, the serving plate is empty before you even sit down at the table because everyone has been sneaking a strip while walking past.

Maybe you’re not a bacon person. Maybe it’s not bacon that calls your name from the sizzling pan in the kitchen or the middle of the table. Maybe it’s warm chocolate chip cookies or slices of avocados or corn on the cob or hot spicy crabs. Maybe it’s all of the above.

But as I cooked a pan of crispy bacon last night, I thought how marvelous it is that God gives us such a variety of foods to enjoy in life, especially during this time of summer abundance when the berries are ripe and the tomatoes are juicy and the watermelon is sweet.

And the bacon? Well…the bacon is gone.

How deep is the love of our Father in heaven that He gives us so many little gifts—sweet or salty or amusing or loving—throughout the day. Sometimes it’s just a matter of recognizing that He’s in each and every one.

“God loves each of us as if there were only one of us,” St. Augustine said.

I hope today you’ll discover little signs of God’s love everywhere you look.

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