1. People that love good food and are creative and talented in knowing what to do with it - we should let them in our kitchen and have their way. They remind us how good food can be and how each ingredient and process is special for a reason. I have eaten the same masterpiece that a friend showed me where to purchase the ingredients and how to put it together...every day this week. It's so so good. And I'd never have known it existed without her. I am awakened to good food, and shop at the farmers market each week now.
2. Eating well and knowing where your food comes from are more than a hippie and trendy idea. Those of you that know this are wondering why it took me this long to figure this out. Some of us are slow learners in differing areas. Have grace. And celebrate my new awakening. And...acknowledge that you may suck at educating the rest of us. Rolling your eyes, refusing to eat the food I make you, and talking to me as if I'm stupid - haven't been real helpful in my awakening to this idea. It's been coming on for a little over 2 years now. It takes time to learn and be swayed to consider such an idea. And I have so much more to learn. Examples...just a touch, there are a zillion more and better ones:
- We only get one body, the God-given role and rule over it is to treat it well. We reap our own consequences when we don't. Knowing what ingredients and how they work in your body and what kind of vitamins, minerals, and excellent foods do for your body is a great way to see it start to work well. Or at least to avoid sickness and see depression lift and have more energy. I say yes to those things. I only get one body - I've hated the fertility part of her for most of my life. I might as well embrace the rest of her. She's the only one I've got and she's ended up serving me pretty well and helping me get to all the places God has led me.3. Sometimes it's not that a company uses child labor that sets my mind ablaze either. I started reading nutrition labels since my son got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I read them of course before and was mildly interested in ingredients such a foods with high fructose corn syrup as the first ingredient. A preschool I directed 12 years ago used to have healthy snack notices we'd put in lunchboxes for parents (after the child had eaten of course and was out playing) to educate them if the snack they provided was nutritional or not. They got tagged if they put fruit juice in that wasn't 100% juice (so many juices out there are all processed sugar). Or if they put candy or sweets in there. The point wasn't to be rude, the point was to educate. And gradually over the course of a year or two, parents started getting creative with food and reading labels. Lovely and loving.
- Knowing where your food comes from is part of justice. Not knowing makes us a consumer who just wants calories because we are too busy to plan for what we eat and just want our tummy to stop growling. I've been learning....albeit slowly and am still mostly stupid in this area....of the companies of foods I love that actually use child slaves to make this food. WTF?? How can I not know this? How can I not care? Why isn't this written on the gosh darn label??????????? I don't know. But I know when I learn, I care. And then I choose something different.
Last week I decided rather than goldfish being served in children's ministry, why not something more healthy that won't turn half the parents away or confirm for the others that we don't really value children's health all that much. Goldfish is cheap and kids like it. Check. Too bad it's full of mostly crap that isn't nutritious for kids and 1/2 the kids coming probably eat mostly crap at home too. Goldfish isn't the enemy (unless they use child slaves and I haven't found out about it yet :)), and some here and there is fine of course. But when it's the best we can think of as a church to feed hungry kids...something in me starts twisting. Why aren't we leading the way in church as to how to eat better and care for our body? We're modeling consumerism perhaps when we go to Costco and buy the large box of goldfish to feed our children on Sundays. It's just an hour we say. It's just kids. So I went and bought organic snacks made with all natural ingredients. Better.
Then this week I got challenged more on this idea. I was at the farmers market and realized, why don't the kids deserve fresh food rather than always boxed? So I was all excited to buy some fresh pita bread from the local stand for our kids this week. Then my husband suggested I take it a bit further and find out the name of the farmer/baker that sells it and let people know that he/she is a person, who is making a living this way. Bam...suddenly we are caring about not only what goes into our bodies but also about the people making the food for us and helping them live and thrive so that it continues.
This makes me smile. In worship. Of a great God who is every slowly and persistently working on my heart. I want to honor him in all, not just the segmented pieces of me. So this week I acknowledge Christian, the young man selling hand-made authentic afghan pita bread at the Ventura farmer's market. It's a family owned business that started with an Afghan woman and her family's struggle in the search for a better life. They've grown it into quite a business providing quality, exotic and tasty food. Christian is a soul that God loves and is pursuing. And our church helped his family a little this week. And perhaps if we get to know him as a person...we could see so much more develop. Meanwhile the kids will have fresh pumpkin in their bellies this week that has 224% of their daily Vit A requirement in it and hear about a family that makes this special bread.Disjointed thoughts - reminiscent of my new beginning in becoming more hippie with food and other things. Onward!
