Thank You Lord, For Pizza

By Katie Helmreich

Jane was almost asleep, basking in the glow of the mini Christmas tree I agreed to set up early, curled up in her bed with Bear and Tags just … thinking … “Mom? What animal do we kill to get pizza?”

I burst out laughing. She’s helped me make pizza a million times!

We talked about flour, tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and mushrooms. We talked about where black olives come from, and who made the bread machine. It was past bedtime so I put off talking more about it until she gets home from school today. She hopes we have pizza for supper!

I lay there next to her for a bit thinking about thankfulness and digging deeper to see how abundantly we’ve been blessed. We’ve written “Thank you, God, for pizza!” on a tag for our Thankfulness Garland, but what if we thanked God for all the things involved in pizza?

Thank you, Lord, for flour. For the farmers that grow the wheat, for the land that supports it, for the rain and the sun, for seasonable weather. Thank you for tractors and trucks. For grain elevators and those that operate them. Thank you for the market and for the factories that process the flour, package it, and ship it to my grocery store. Thank you for those who stock shelves and those who work at the check out.

Thank you for tomatoes, onions, garlic, and whatever else goes into the sauce we use! Thank you for the people who have used their talents to craft a delicious and convenient jar of goodness for us.

Thank you for the angels that make the gluten free pizza crust I can eat, and for making it taste like actual pizza.

Thank you for cheese (all cheese, we’re pretty into cheese). Thank you for cows, and that cool thing that happens with salt and enzymes that changes milk into a melty mozzarella miracle! (Thank you, that you have kept us from lactose intolerance.)

Thanks for cheese graters. For our new one, but also the old rusty one that has been a blessing for 15 years, since the day we received it as a wedding gift. Thanks for the kids that love grating the cheese for me and the great conversations we have while working in the kitchen together!

Thank you for pepperoni (and for whatever animal is involved in pepperoni).

Thank you for mushrooms. They’re a pretty strange vegetable (because calling them a fungus is gross), but they’re yummy in the right time and place! Thanks for those brave enough to keep trying mushrooms until they found the ones that aren’t poison.

Thank you for our bread machine. For the engineers and manufacturers that make it so much easier to bake great food for our family. Thank you for Ben who can fix it if something breaks. Thanks for my brother who was there to laugh with me that time when the bread machine kneaded itself right off the edge of the kitchen counter.

Thanking God for all these things could go on for hours! All the people, places, and processes… I haven’t even thanked God yet for the black olives and olive oil, for salt mines, and whatever they do to package yeast. For the friend who sharpened my paring knives for me. For my grandma’s cookie sheet and for all the sweet memories attached to it…

We can only glimpse God’s abundant goodness. We can’t possibly understand the length and breath, the height, or depth of the Creator’s steadfast love.

When we look through the narrow eye of a telescope, we begin to experience the vastness of space. Peering through the lens of a microscope opens up a world invisible to the naked eye, with beautiful functionality too complex for us to fully understand! The more closely we look, the more aware of the infinite we become.

So ask yourself, “What animal do we kill to get pizza?” Step up to the telescope. Peek into the microscope. Follow the trails of people, places, produce, and processes that God has used to provide for you today. Get lost in the network of infinite blessings! Bask in the glow of God’s glory as you thank your Creator and Sustainer for this abundant goodness. Rejoice in the ways God’s glory then reflects from you and from everyone sharing a good pizza.

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. And let these gifts to us be blessed. Amen.