I don't have anything too profound to say today... really all I have to talk about and all I've been thinking about in the last 24 hours is FOOD! I've been on a cooking spree because of it, even though I haven't been able to eat any of it yet! In the past 2 days I've made tomato basil pasta sauce, carrot nut bread, muscadine grape jelly and eggplant parmesan all from scratch with our fresh CSA ingredients (which is a major part of weeks 2-4 of this month). I'm crazy hungry and I can't wait to eat a real meal when I break my fast tonight at midnight. I'm proud of myself for making it 7 days on 7 foods alone! I was pretty sure I would crack on Day 1, but here I am on Day 7 with 3 hours to go! The hunger is kicking my butt right now, especially after taking a spin class this morning, volunteering at Jackson's school, buying materials for my business this afternoon and then cooking and getting the kids to bed tonight. I'm spent! And hungry. I wonder if those without food are this hungry all the time? If they constantly think about food? Does the hunger every subside? It breaks my heart to think that it probably does not. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to live in a constant state of hunger. It makes me feel extremely thankful, blessed, guilty, sad, and raging with desire to change the world all at the same time! I'm not sure what that means for me just yet, but I am really excited about what the rest of the month holds in serving others for whom this is a daily suffering and continuing to pray over them as well.
And I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty darn excited about digging into that eggplant parm at midnight and will be praising God with every bite! :)
Monday, September 9, 2013
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Empty to Fill... Serve with Love
It's almost the end of Day 6, which means I'm in the home stretch of my 7 foods for 7 days fast! Can't believe it's almost done, but excited at the same time for some good home cooked meals with fresh produce and meat this week!
I feel like I have a lot to catch up on from the past few days, so this might be a bit all over the place :)
First let's talk service projects, since I promised that in my last post! So this month I have a bunch of service projects on tap, and I'm super excited about that. The whole point of emptying myself out a bit this month is so that I have room to fill myself back up with the Holy Spirit by serving and helping others.
I feel like I have a lot to catch up on from the past few days, so this might be a bit all over the place :)
First let's talk service projects, since I promised that in my last post! So this month I have a bunch of service projects on tap, and I'm super excited about that. The whole point of emptying myself out a bit this month is so that I have room to fill myself back up with the Holy Spirit by serving and helping others.
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
On Saturday morning, I took part in "Sew Much More" at Life Point, where a bunch of people got together to make dresses for little girls in Haiti, Mexico, Brazil and China. The turnout was great and everyone was so excited to pitch in and make this day a success! There with people with all types of sewing abilities and many opportunities for those who didn't have any sewing experience - they always need people to help with pinning, cutting and ironing. The event was super organized, thanks to Julie, and very productive. I don't know exactly how many dresses were finished on Saturday... I think the goal was 250 and I wouldn't be surprised if we had met that goal! We were really flying through those dresses :) I especially love projects like this where I can use a talent God blessed me with to bless others!
This upcoming Tuesday, I'll be trying something totally different (and totally new for me!) and volunteering with the Nashville Food Project in their meal prep kitchen. This project could not be more perfect for this month, with a focus on food (and my goals of first experiencing hunger through a fast to remember those who are without food, and secondly to focus on eating healthy, homemade, local and fresh). If you don't know much about the Nashville Food Project, I'll give you a quick summary. Their goal is to provide healthy food to the homeless and working poor. They believe that everyone should have access to healthy food. In order to meet this goal, they have 2 gardens where they grow a variety of seasonal crops. They combine the harvests from these gardens with food that is donated for their pantry items and food that is gleaned from various farms and stores, and then cook this food up in their meal prep kitchen (where I'll be working this week) and then deliver it to the communities in need on one of their trucks. I can't begin to express how much I love this idea... fighting hunger with a low cost garden, the use of volunteers, donations of excess food from the community... and all of it to make a HEALTHY meal. I may have been hungry this past week with only eating 7 types of food, and I was certainly bored with my limited choices, but I was lucky and blessed because I was able to have a variety of produce and all fresh and organic items on my plate even if it was limited. How awesome would that be to provide that to another in need? The meals and food items that are normally donated to the poor and hungry aren't always the healthiest things... how often have you seen a box of macaroni and cheese or a can of processed soup in a donation bin? Most of the time, I bet. But here we have the opportunity to give fresh and healthy meals. I just love that! When I go there on Tuesday, I'll be doing anything from washing and chopping vegetables, slicing bread, making desserts and coming up with creative ways to turn their available ingredients into hot delicious meals. I can't wait to see how it goes and what I'll be doing! I may even turn this into a weekly thing depending on my experience. I would also like to check out the Journey Home in Murfreesboro and the East Nashville Cooperative Ministry as well.
Next up, and she doesn't know it yet (so I hope she's not reading this!) is making a small but meaningful donation to Heart of Worship's school lunch program this month. Heart of Worship is a school in Haiti for students Pre-K through 6th grade. The school provides them with a positive, encouraging and safe environment in which to learn. They serve the students lunch daily and that lunch is provided through donations that HOW receives. My hunger from fasting and from my desire to learn and grow and give has made me think often of those children this week. I've had a passion for them ever since I first met Carolyn and have enjoyed purchasing necklaces handmade from the children there for Christmas gifts for the women in my family last year, donated school supplies, sent a "Christmas box" to one of the children, and participated in a Sewing Bee to make students for the incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten classes this year. There are so many ways to help! For a lot of the kids, that hot meal at school might be the only meal that they get that day, which makes it all the more important that the school is able to continue providing lunch to them. If you're interested in learning more about Heart of Worship and what they do and how you can help, please let me know!
The final one on tap this month is also through Life Point, it's one of their annual events called Sending Kids. This is a mission project where kids of ALL ages can come together with their families and help others right here in their local community. John and I are going to do this with Jackson, and even Sophia and Lily can help! It will be fun for us to all do this together and I'm excited for the kids to have a chance to participate in something like this. My bff, Council member, and partner in crime will also be joining me in this project and I'm excited about that too! I'm not sure what we'll do doing yet... I know 2 years ago they painted pumpkins and visited with the elderly at an assisted living home and then went to a low income housing community to do yard work, painting, and sprucing up. I can't wait to see what this year will hold and will be sure to update after this weekend!
A couple of last thoughts.... first in the spirit of serving others, I was really excited to see all the countries and missions trips announced at church today. Life Point is huge on being a "sending church" and is very active in both local and global missions. They had tables with information set up for all of the upcoming trips/countries this year... I saw a few new ones added like India and West Africa, along with many of the places they've been before like Bangkok and Brussels (Life Point has an actual campus in both of these places) along with Brazil, Mexico and Haiti. Now I'm not sure that I'll be going on a missions trip, but it's something I've given thought to and I've been thinking about Haiti for a while for a variety of reasons (even before going to Life Point) and had also considered Brussels as well. Even having seen it as an option in many places, Mexico never once crossed my mind. I have no idea why not, but just looking at the list of countries I had some immediate maybes and some immediate no's and Mexico was in the no pile (without any reason). Today in church, during a song that was totally unrelated to any of this... I had a tiny thought pop into my head out of no where... "why not Mexico, Kathy?". Good question. "You know you can still speak/understand Spanish pretty well?". Good point. And then I got to thinking about it and that really did make sense. I took 6 years of Spanish in high school, including AP, and then a semester or two in college as well. Granted, I forgot a HUGE chunk of what I learned, but I still have some pretty basic Spanish skills. I realized just the other day, actually, hadn't lost as much Spanish knowledge as I had thought when a form from Jackson's school got sent home in his folder entirely in Spanish. There was no English version with it and I wasn't sure if the form was only applicable to Spanish speaking students/parents or if there was an English version of the form too and he had just got sent home with the wrong version. So I did what any normal person would do, I emailed the teacher to find out I sat down and translated the form without any help and was able to translate the whole thing minus a word or two here and there. Say what?!? It's funny that I'm remembering that story now in light of the missions stuff from today, but maybe God set in my mind to really look that form over and "go for it" and remind myself that I do have that skill set. Anyway, today had me wondering how much more helpful or more of an impact could I make in a place where I could communicate verbally? Probably a lot! So in addition to stopping by the Brussels and Haiti booths after the service, I stopped by the Mexico booth too. I had an awesome talk with the man helping out there! There were nice people at both of the other two booths, but man he was just really excited and full of information (if you know me, I love details) about what they do there and what the trip was like. He said it was a great trip for getting your feet wet and it sounded like a really neat experience! This trip would be to the Yucatan Peninsula to serve the Mayan Communities and I believe they go in March, July and October (lots of opportunities). So please pray for me as I think about this and see what God's plans are for me. I'm feeling really really positive about this right now, so we shall see!
I promised a couple of last thoughts... so my second (and last last thought) is that plain dry chicken tastes infinitely better with spinach water poured over it. What is spinach water? Why that's the water you saute your plain spinach in that soaks up some of the spinach flavor. lol This may seem trivial, but it vastly improved my plain chicken's taste tonight! Of course I discover this on the 6th day! One more day to go! I've already busied myself with some food prep today since we picked up our CSA box this afternoon. I busied myself in the kitchen making homemade tomato basil sauce and carrot nut bread. This is going to be a good week!
I'll end this with some of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs on the radio at the moment, "Proof of Your Love" by For King & Country, and a corresponding Bible verse to go with it.
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
I'll end this with some of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs on the radio at the moment, "Proof of Your Love" by For King & Country, and a corresponding Bible verse to go with it.
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
1 Corinthians 13
The Message (MSG)
The Way of Love
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If
I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making
everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain,
“Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Embracing the goodness that our CSA has to offer!
I've really thought a lot about this food month the past few days and I've decided to make a few changes. I hope this doesn't come across like a cop out... I truly do believe I could live off 7 foods only for a month. Each day has gotten easier. I've grown a new appreciation for foods in their natural state - raw or cooked without any additives. I have a new found love for and look forward to my daily sweet potato (never thought I'd write that sentence... lol... not that I don't like sweet potatoes normally, but it just sounds odd!). My dilemma lies in that in addition to simplifying my food for a month and eliminating excess, I don't want to create more waste or stress for the family.
My family is part of a CSA, which stands for community shared agriculture. We joined Avalon Acres towards the end of this summer and have LOVED it! Each week we get a box of fresh produce, two meats and dozen and a half eggs. Everything is fresh, local, free range, and most of it is organic as well. Each week is a surprise as far as what we will get, but that's been part of the fun! It's forced us into meal planning, which has kept us organized, cut down on trips to the grocery store, helped us use up our pantry as we use what we have to make meals, eat healthier and support a local business. It doesn't get much better than that! We also get to recycle all of our produce, meat, and egg packaging back to the company every week when we pick up our new box, so it's been great for the environment too! That's been a big change for us and it's been a very positive change.
Without knowing what will be in my box every week until we get it, I picked my 7 items in hopes that we'd get some in our box, but I still have to buy a lot of extras (and most have been from the grocery store, and while even though I can and did get organic there... I'd rather be supporting my local farmers) and cook 2 meals for the family and try not to cross "contaminate" seasonings (see last night's butter fiasco... lol). So that's been difficult and has created more waste, which is obviously not the point of this exercise!
So I'm making some changes for this month! I've already bought my 7 ingredients for this week, so I'm going to go ahead and finish that out. Here's what I'm going to do:
Initial fast for 7 days of eating only 7 ingredients (I just finished day 3)
For the remainder of the month, I'll make the most of our CSA and eliminate 7 areas of food related excess instead of limiting myself to 7 ingredients only.
1. No caffeine (water only to drink)
2. No alcohol
3. No sweets or desserts (not even homemade*)
4. No eating out or take out (only homemade meals or raw foods)
5. Nothing fat free or sugar free (keep to "whole" foods)
6. Eating out of our CSA box as much as possible and staying away from processed foods as much as possible
7. No food after 8 pm (goodbye unnecessary late night snacking!)
*homemade breads and muffins are ok, just no cookies/cakes/pies/candy/etc.
I think these 7 areas will still eliminate a lot of our food excess and also help address some bad habits, while still making the most use of our CSA commitment and not creating extra waste. This is a good compromise for our family and since it's a little less constricting. I think this is something that all 5 of us can get on board with for the most part, which will be even more exciting since we can make a bigger impact as all 5 of us doing this together!
So I'm excited for the next few weeks to come after this. I'm looking forward to my homemade carrot nut bread again and meals with farm fresh veggies and meat. I've been missing out big time this week, John made these awesome homemade meatballs that we all love with Avalon Acres ground beef for him and the kids tonight and I was sad not to partake! But it's been a great learning experience so far too. It's made me think of the poor and hungry a lot more, to pray for them, and I've been super sensitive for any wasted food so I've been trying to make sure the kids eat as much of their meals as possible and save stuff for the next meal if they reject it, instead of throwing it out.
I'm still nursing a pretty bad head cold over here, so I would love and appreciate any prayers for health right now. I'm really hoping to feel better this weekend because I've got my first service project for this month coming up on Saturday, where I'll be getting together with a bunch of people from our church, Life Point, for their annual Sew Much More event, a mission project where everyone works together to sew 250 reversible dresses in one day for orphans in Brazil, Mexico and Haiti. I'm super excited about it since I can use a talent that God has blessed me with to help others! I recently did another event like this, a Sewing Bee with Heart of Worship Ministries to sew up uniforms for the new preschool and Kindergarteners starting at their school in Haiti this fall. It was a great day and lots of fun!
My family is part of a CSA, which stands for community shared agriculture. We joined Avalon Acres towards the end of this summer and have LOVED it! Each week we get a box of fresh produce, two meats and dozen and a half eggs. Everything is fresh, local, free range, and most of it is organic as well. Each week is a surprise as far as what we will get, but that's been part of the fun! It's forced us into meal planning, which has kept us organized, cut down on trips to the grocery store, helped us use up our pantry as we use what we have to make meals, eat healthier and support a local business. It doesn't get much better than that! We also get to recycle all of our produce, meat, and egg packaging back to the company every week when we pick up our new box, so it's been great for the environment too! That's been a big change for us and it's been a very positive change.
Without knowing what will be in my box every week until we get it, I picked my 7 items in hopes that we'd get some in our box, but I still have to buy a lot of extras (and most have been from the grocery store, and while even though I can and did get organic there... I'd rather be supporting my local farmers) and cook 2 meals for the family and try not to cross "contaminate" seasonings (see last night's butter fiasco... lol). So that's been difficult and has created more waste, which is obviously not the point of this exercise!
So I'm making some changes for this month! I've already bought my 7 ingredients for this week, so I'm going to go ahead and finish that out. Here's what I'm going to do:
Initial fast for 7 days of eating only 7 ingredients (I just finished day 3)
For the remainder of the month, I'll make the most of our CSA and eliminate 7 areas of food related excess instead of limiting myself to 7 ingredients only.
1. No caffeine (water only to drink)
2. No alcohol
3. No sweets or desserts (not even homemade*)
4. No eating out or take out (only homemade meals or raw foods)
5. Nothing fat free or sugar free (keep to "whole" foods)
6. Eating out of our CSA box as much as possible and staying away from processed foods as much as possible
7. No food after 8 pm (goodbye unnecessary late night snacking!)
*homemade breads and muffins are ok, just no cookies/cakes/pies/candy/etc.
I think these 7 areas will still eliminate a lot of our food excess and also help address some bad habits, while still making the most use of our CSA commitment and not creating extra waste. This is a good compromise for our family and since it's a little less constricting. I think this is something that all 5 of us can get on board with for the most part, which will be even more exciting since we can make a bigger impact as all 5 of us doing this together!
So I'm excited for the next few weeks to come after this. I'm looking forward to my homemade carrot nut bread again and meals with farm fresh veggies and meat. I've been missing out big time this week, John made these awesome homemade meatballs that we all love with Avalon Acres ground beef for him and the kids tonight and I was sad not to partake! But it's been a great learning experience so far too. It's made me think of the poor and hungry a lot more, to pray for them, and I've been super sensitive for any wasted food so I've been trying to make sure the kids eat as much of their meals as possible and save stuff for the next meal if they reject it, instead of throwing it out.
I'm still nursing a pretty bad head cold over here, so I would love and appreciate any prayers for health right now. I'm really hoping to feel better this weekend because I've got my first service project for this month coming up on Saturday, where I'll be getting together with a bunch of people from our church, Life Point, for their annual Sew Much More event, a mission project where everyone works together to sew 250 reversible dresses in one day for orphans in Brazil, Mexico and Haiti. I'm super excited about it since I can use a talent that God has blessed me with to help others! I recently did another event like this, a Sewing Bee with Heart of Worship Ministries to sew up uniforms for the new preschool and Kindergarteners starting at their school in Haiti this fall. It was a great day and lots of fun!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Reflections on the first two days
Food: Day 2
This journey has taken me all over the place in just two days. It's been kind of crazy, I'm not even sure where to start!
Let's start with I'm sick right now... like actually sick with a nasty head/chest cold unfortunately. It's making it hard to discern whether the headache I'm experiencing is from sinus pressure or caffeine withdrawal... my guess is both! I have successfully made it through the first two days though!
Catching back up from yesterday, for month one of the Seven project (a reduction in excess/waste/stress/etc) we have food. A million different options reduced down to just seven. I kept it simple and just followed the author's choices since she had mentioned doing a lot of research to find a nutritiously balanced group. So enter:
chicken
eggs
sweet potatoes
apples
whole-wheat bread
spinach
avocados
No more coffee, no more diet coke, just water. I've been trying to keep my seasonings super simple, just olive oil, salt and pepper but we had a bit of a snafu with that tonight (more on that later).
On "Day 1" I rethought my food choices no less than 10 times after getting into this. I should've done rice. Or black beans. Or almonds. Or bananas. Definitely bananas. Why didn't I pick bananas? Yup, that was the typical thought process yesterday. That and a lot of... Why am I doing this again? And... This was probably a bad idea.
There were several uplifting moments too. First, a lot of support from friends on facebook.
Second, an awesome service last night at Kairos, a come as you are some-what young adult Tuesday night service at Brentwood Baptist. I love this service and God has been connecting with me through this service a lot in the last few months. Tonight was no different. Aaron Bryant was giving the message again this week. Last week was completely relevant to what my Life Point small group has been studying in the "I am A Church Member" book that we're reading, about serving. This week, Aaron talked about Luke 14: 15-23 - The Parable of the Great Banquet. The first part of this story talks about inviting the least of society, those on the margins or the outside - the poor, the ill, the disabled, the homeless, etc. to our table and not just those like us. I'm going to be pairing up some service work this month to go along with the "food" theme and I hope to make it a big point to focus on those groups of people as I do so. I will quote the second part of the parable now...
A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant[c] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
So what do we have here... a man (God) is inviting us to his table (to the kingdom of God) not just when we die but NOW right here on earth we have this chance. And what did those that were invited say to him... I have to see to my field (my stuff, my possessions), I have to see to my oxen (my career, my earnings), I have to see to my wife (my relationships)... all of those things have become more important than accepting God's invitation. How many of us let those things (our stuff, our money, our career, our relationships) get in the way of our relationship with God? *Raises hand*.
Enter Seven. How perfect was that message last night, on the very first day of working to eliminate the stuff that gets in the way. That was encouraging to say the least! I shared the book with Aaron afterward, who mentioned that his wife just read it and that he wants to read it this week and then talk after service next week so I can share my experience with him.
The third positive piece of encouragement was a 2+ hour long conversation with my best friend Stephanie in my driveway in the dark last night, that has carried over to today. Needless to say, she will be my "Council" during this experience. A supporter, cheerleader, encourager and wisdom giver... and not just that, but she is going to do this with me!!!! Hallelujah! I can't tell you what a big difference it will make to have someone going on this journey with me. We talked about EVERYTHING last night... how we want to serve, what we want to give up, what we want to gain, just life in general. There were tears, there were hugs, there were ideas and inspiration, there were two women ready to do this! I am so blessed to have such a great friend in my life and super excited to have her doing this with me.
So there have clearly been many blessings from God just in 2 days of doing this and I'm glad I was open enough to see them!
There's been some struggles too... hunger, headaches and just being a wee bit on edge (I miss you caffeine!). Tonight my hubby cooked dinner for us since I was laid up in bed feeling sick. He forgot that I was really trying hard to stick to just my 7 ingredients with limited "extras" (namely just salt, pepper, and a small amount of olive oil). I had told him this earlier but he just forgot. I pulled the chicken out of the oven tonight and it had butter, herbs and lemon all over it, and on the sweet potatoes too. Nooooooooooooo! I flipped out and reacted like a baby. lol Let's be honest here. He had just made a nice meal and really helped me out. My meal, my goals, were ruined. MY. I definitely over reacted here and it wasn't pretty. I was totally missing the point by focusing on me still. To me, it was just some butter, just some herbs and lemons. The point I was trying to make was that the poor and impoverished can't just reach into the fridge and pull out a stick of butter... so it kinda was a big deal. But at the end of the day, it wasn't. I ate my meal, it was healthy, it still consisted of the main ingredients in my 7 and it was great. It was a good learning lesson for me.
After really diving into Seven with my bff, husband, and on my own... I've realized that this experiment shouldn't just be doing what Jen Hatmaker did in her book. She looked at her family's own areas of excess and determined what to eliminate based on that. Her areas might not be the same as mine and vice versa. So I've been thinking more about how *I* want to do this and what'll work best for my family and our needs/excesses and am going to make a few changes, but also keep some things exactly the same since totally applicable to us.
I'll explain more about that tomorrow and give a basic outline of my 7 things for the next 7 months! I plan to also talk about some of my service projects ideas for the upcoming month too.
This journey has taken me all over the place in just two days. It's been kind of crazy, I'm not even sure where to start!
Let's start with I'm sick right now... like actually sick with a nasty head/chest cold unfortunately. It's making it hard to discern whether the headache I'm experiencing is from sinus pressure or caffeine withdrawal... my guess is both! I have successfully made it through the first two days though!
Catching back up from yesterday, for month one of the Seven project (a reduction in excess/waste/stress/etc) we have food. A million different options reduced down to just seven. I kept it simple and just followed the author's choices since she had mentioned doing a lot of research to find a nutritiously balanced group. So enter:
chicken
eggs
sweet potatoes
apples
whole-wheat bread
spinach
avocados
No more coffee, no more diet coke, just water. I've been trying to keep my seasonings super simple, just olive oil, salt and pepper but we had a bit of a snafu with that tonight (more on that later).
On "Day 1" I rethought my food choices no less than 10 times after getting into this. I should've done rice. Or black beans. Or almonds. Or bananas. Definitely bananas. Why didn't I pick bananas? Yup, that was the typical thought process yesterday. That and a lot of... Why am I doing this again? And... This was probably a bad idea.
There were several uplifting moments too. First, a lot of support from friends on facebook.
Second, an awesome service last night at Kairos, a come as you are some-what young adult Tuesday night service at Brentwood Baptist. I love this service and God has been connecting with me through this service a lot in the last few months. Tonight was no different. Aaron Bryant was giving the message again this week. Last week was completely relevant to what my Life Point small group has been studying in the "I am A Church Member" book that we're reading, about serving. This week, Aaron talked about Luke 14: 15-23 - The Parable of the Great Banquet. The first part of this story talks about inviting the least of society, those on the margins or the outside - the poor, the ill, the disabled, the homeless, etc. to our table and not just those like us. I'm going to be pairing up some service work this month to go along with the "food" theme and I hope to make it a big point to focus on those groups of people as I do so. I will quote the second part of the parable now...
A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant[c] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
So what do we have here... a man (God) is inviting us to his table (to the kingdom of God) not just when we die but NOW right here on earth we have this chance. And what did those that were invited say to him... I have to see to my field (my stuff, my possessions), I have to see to my oxen (my career, my earnings), I have to see to my wife (my relationships)... all of those things have become more important than accepting God's invitation. How many of us let those things (our stuff, our money, our career, our relationships) get in the way of our relationship with God? *Raises hand*.
Enter Seven. How perfect was that message last night, on the very first day of working to eliminate the stuff that gets in the way. That was encouraging to say the least! I shared the book with Aaron afterward, who mentioned that his wife just read it and that he wants to read it this week and then talk after service next week so I can share my experience with him.
The third positive piece of encouragement was a 2+ hour long conversation with my best friend Stephanie in my driveway in the dark last night, that has carried over to today. Needless to say, she will be my "Council" during this experience. A supporter, cheerleader, encourager and wisdom giver... and not just that, but she is going to do this with me!!!! Hallelujah! I can't tell you what a big difference it will make to have someone going on this journey with me. We talked about EVERYTHING last night... how we want to serve, what we want to give up, what we want to gain, just life in general. There were tears, there were hugs, there were ideas and inspiration, there were two women ready to do this! I am so blessed to have such a great friend in my life and super excited to have her doing this with me.
So there have clearly been many blessings from God just in 2 days of doing this and I'm glad I was open enough to see them!
There's been some struggles too... hunger, headaches and just being a wee bit on edge (I miss you caffeine!). Tonight my hubby cooked dinner for us since I was laid up in bed feeling sick. He forgot that I was really trying hard to stick to just my 7 ingredients with limited "extras" (namely just salt, pepper, and a small amount of olive oil). I had told him this earlier but he just forgot. I pulled the chicken out of the oven tonight and it had butter, herbs and lemon all over it, and on the sweet potatoes too. Nooooooooooooo! I flipped out and reacted like a baby. lol Let's be honest here. He had just made a nice meal and really helped me out. My meal, my goals, were ruined. MY. I definitely over reacted here and it wasn't pretty. I was totally missing the point by focusing on me still. To me, it was just some butter, just some herbs and lemons. The point I was trying to make was that the poor and impoverished can't just reach into the fridge and pull out a stick of butter... so it kinda was a big deal. But at the end of the day, it wasn't. I ate my meal, it was healthy, it still consisted of the main ingredients in my 7 and it was great. It was a good learning lesson for me.
After really diving into Seven with my bff, husband, and on my own... I've realized that this experiment shouldn't just be doing what Jen Hatmaker did in her book. She looked at her family's own areas of excess and determined what to eliminate based on that. Her areas might not be the same as mine and vice versa. So I've been thinking more about how *I* want to do this and what'll work best for my family and our needs/excesses and am going to make a few changes, but also keep some things exactly the same since totally applicable to us.
I'll explain more about that tomorrow and give a basic outline of my 7 things for the next 7 months! I plan to also talk about some of my service projects ideas for the upcoming month too.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Why not today?
This weekend I dove head first into Jen Hatmaker's book, Seven; recommended to me by my amazing friend Stephanie. Her and I share similar tastes and have been walking down a spiritual road together for the past several months, so if she said it was good - I knew I had to see what it was all about it! And let me tell you, she was right.
Seven is an "experimental mutiny against excess", as described by author Jen Hatmaker. Jen is a blogger, Bible teacher, traveling speaker and wife to pastor Brandon Hatmaker. I've followed her blog on and off, and definitely mesh with this girl! I had loved her reading her insights about every day life. She can talk about things in a humorous way that's easy to relate to, but at the same time she really gets you to THINK about things and challenges you to take action. Love it!
Seven is like a big fat slap in the face that forces you to examine the areas of excess in your life... your consumerism, selfishness, waste, greed, entitlements, distractions, etc. Here's an excerpt from the introduction:
"I started seeing my stuff with fresh eyes, realizing we had everything. I mean everything. We've never missed a meal or even skimped on one. We live in a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. Our kids are in a Texas exemplary school. We drive two cars under warranty. We've never gone a day without health insurance. Our closets are overflowing. We throw away food we didn't eat, clothes we barely wore, trash that will never disintegrate, stuff that fell out of fashion. And I was so blinded I didn't even know we were rich. How can I be socially responsible if unaware that I reside in the top percentage of wealth in the world? (You probably do too: Make $35,000 a year? Top 4 percent. $50,000? Top 1 percent). Excess has impaired perspective tangled in unmanageable debt while feeding the machine, because we feel entitled to more. What does it communicate when half the global population lives on less than $2 a day, and we can't manage a fulfilling life on twenty-five thousand times that amount? Fifty thousand times that amount? It says we have too much, and it is ruining us.".
WOW. It makes you think a bit, huh? Why do we spend so much? We do we think we need so much stuff? What are our priorities? What would Jesus think about all of this? Are our things or how we spend our time getting in the way of what Jesus has called us to do: to serve and love others.
So Jen sought out to examine 7 areas of her life, for seven months (one a month), and reduce them to seven simple choices to embark on a journey of less. I love this idea. I've made some better choices towards being responsible lately, namely joining Avalon Acres, a CSA (community supported agriculture) which allows us to eat healthier food that is organic and supports local farmers. I pack my son's lunch in entirely reusable containers and try to send as many healthy food choices as I can. I love to shop second hand and thrift, and buy many of my children's clothes second hand at consignment sales. But overall, I still buy. too. much. too. often. The spending and excess has been a bit (a lot) out of control this year and I would also like to be even more environmentally responsible. So for me this journey is two-fold, make reductions and smarter choices and also as Jen said it "will be an exercise in simplicity with one goal: create space for God's kingdom to break through" and living life more like Jesus. She closes the first part of her introduction with "Jesus, may there be less of me and my junk and more of You and Your kingdom". Amen to that!
So what are the 7 areas that Jen simplified?
Food
Clothes
Possessions
Media
Waste
Spending
Stress
I plan to follow along and do these monthly as well. Which means food starts this month. But before I get to that, I mapped out the months and found that Media is in December and Waste is in January. Uh oh! You're telling me I can't get on facebook in December and share pics of my kids doing Christmasy things. Wait, we'll still actually be DOING the Christmasy things and I can still take pictures of them and share them (later) just not RIGHT NOW, what a rare idea in our constant state of instant knowledge and media access! But how can I do Waste in January when I can't plant a garden then and we can't share one car because John leaves for midnight and that'd mean waking the kids up at midnight to put them in the car and drive daddy to work. That's obviously not feasible. But I CAN do other things to reduce waste. I can follow Jen's suggestions of recycling and buying locally, and I can add some of my own like a 5 minute shower limit or trying not turn on our lights for an entire month (Seriously considering this one. Yes, I am crazy). Before thinking those things through logically, I almost backed out of wanting to do this or started rearranging the months/order (well, maybe I can move this one to this month instead since it'll be easier to do that month). Really? EASIER? That's certainly not what this is about! It's supposed to be radical, and a challenge, and eye opening, and habit changing. Will I fail along the way? You bet ya! So did Jen. But it's more about the journey and what I can learn from it than legalistically following all the rules to the T! But I will try my hardest and I'm going to start today! Why not?
So month one begins today (yay for me that I got 2 freebies this month since it's already the 3rd). Month one is Food, and that will be without a doubt the hardest one for me. I love to eat. I love food! Pray for me folks, I'm going to need it! I will get into more about food and what I'm doing/how it's going in my next post so I can go ahead and wrap this one up. But quickly, I'll let you know that I've decided to do the same 7 food choices that Jen went with. I'll get more into my reasoning behind that in my next post. For the next month I will be eating:
Chicken
Eggs
Whole-wheat bread
Sweet potatoes
Spinach
Avocados
Apples
And that's it.
Like I said, pray for me! haha
Seven is an "experimental mutiny against excess", as described by author Jen Hatmaker. Jen is a blogger, Bible teacher, traveling speaker and wife to pastor Brandon Hatmaker. I've followed her blog on and off, and definitely mesh with this girl! I had loved her reading her insights about every day life. She can talk about things in a humorous way that's easy to relate to, but at the same time she really gets you to THINK about things and challenges you to take action. Love it!
Seven is like a big fat slap in the face that forces you to examine the areas of excess in your life... your consumerism, selfishness, waste, greed, entitlements, distractions, etc. Here's an excerpt from the introduction:
"I started seeing my stuff with fresh eyes, realizing we had everything. I mean everything. We've never missed a meal or even skimped on one. We live in a beautiful home in a great neighborhood. Our kids are in a Texas exemplary school. We drive two cars under warranty. We've never gone a day without health insurance. Our closets are overflowing. We throw away food we didn't eat, clothes we barely wore, trash that will never disintegrate, stuff that fell out of fashion. And I was so blinded I didn't even know we were rich. How can I be socially responsible if unaware that I reside in the top percentage of wealth in the world? (You probably do too: Make $35,000 a year? Top 4 percent. $50,000? Top 1 percent). Excess has impaired perspective tangled in unmanageable debt while feeding the machine, because we feel entitled to more. What does it communicate when half the global population lives on less than $2 a day, and we can't manage a fulfilling life on twenty-five thousand times that amount? Fifty thousand times that amount? It says we have too much, and it is ruining us.".
WOW. It makes you think a bit, huh? Why do we spend so much? We do we think we need so much stuff? What are our priorities? What would Jesus think about all of this? Are our things or how we spend our time getting in the way of what Jesus has called us to do: to serve and love others.
So Jen sought out to examine 7 areas of her life, for seven months (one a month), and reduce them to seven simple choices to embark on a journey of less. I love this idea. I've made some better choices towards being responsible lately, namely joining Avalon Acres, a CSA (community supported agriculture) which allows us to eat healthier food that is organic and supports local farmers. I pack my son's lunch in entirely reusable containers and try to send as many healthy food choices as I can. I love to shop second hand and thrift, and buy many of my children's clothes second hand at consignment sales. But overall, I still buy. too. much. too. often. The spending and excess has been a bit (a lot) out of control this year and I would also like to be even more environmentally responsible. So for me this journey is two-fold, make reductions and smarter choices and also as Jen said it "will be an exercise in simplicity with one goal: create space for God's kingdom to break through" and living life more like Jesus. She closes the first part of her introduction with "Jesus, may there be less of me and my junk and more of You and Your kingdom". Amen to that!
So what are the 7 areas that Jen simplified?
Food
Clothes
Possessions
Media
Waste
Spending
Stress
I plan to follow along and do these monthly as well. Which means food starts this month. But before I get to that, I mapped out the months and found that Media is in December and Waste is in January. Uh oh! You're telling me I can't get on facebook in December and share pics of my kids doing Christmasy things. Wait, we'll still actually be DOING the Christmasy things and I can still take pictures of them and share them (later) just not RIGHT NOW, what a rare idea in our constant state of instant knowledge and media access! But how can I do Waste in January when I can't plant a garden then and we can't share one car because John leaves for midnight and that'd mean waking the kids up at midnight to put them in the car and drive daddy to work. That's obviously not feasible. But I CAN do other things to reduce waste. I can follow Jen's suggestions of recycling and buying locally, and I can add some of my own like a 5 minute shower limit or trying not turn on our lights for an entire month (Seriously considering this one. Yes, I am crazy). Before thinking those things through logically, I almost backed out of wanting to do this or started rearranging the months/order (well, maybe I can move this one to this month instead since it'll be easier to do that month). Really? EASIER? That's certainly not what this is about! It's supposed to be radical, and a challenge, and eye opening, and habit changing. Will I fail along the way? You bet ya! So did Jen. But it's more about the journey and what I can learn from it than legalistically following all the rules to the T! But I will try my hardest and I'm going to start today! Why not?
So month one begins today (yay for me that I got 2 freebies this month since it's already the 3rd). Month one is Food, and that will be without a doubt the hardest one for me. I love to eat. I love food! Pray for me folks, I'm going to need it! I will get into more about food and what I'm doing/how it's going in my next post so I can go ahead and wrap this one up. But quickly, I'll let you know that I've decided to do the same 7 food choices that Jen went with. I'll get more into my reasoning behind that in my next post. For the next month I will be eating:
Chicken
Eggs
Whole-wheat bread
Sweet potatoes
Spinach
Avocados
Apples
And that's it.
Like I said, pray for me! haha
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