Learning Lessons

Day 12


So basically, I hate this month. I hate chicken and eggs and whoever convinced me to do this whole challenge.


Wait. That was me.


Anyway.


I'm over going to things like wedding showers and a super bowl party and growth group and not being able to eat whatever they have. Yesterday? Rachel's wedding shower consisted of: a large variety of fruit conveniently placed by the chocolate fountain, a very large beautiful cake, an array of dips with their corresponding chips, two different flavored chicken wings, small sandwiches, casseroles and punch that was out of this world. (So I heard) I think there was probably a lot more this is all the goodness I can remember at a time.


This month is inconvenient.


But? Something very weird is happening. God is talking to me. Who would have thought?


Day 19


Well, I'll just say it. This is harder than I thought it would be. And I'm weaker than I thought I would be. Eating 7 foods sucks. So I cheat. Therefore, I suck. In my defense, I tried really hard not to cheat.... in the beginning. For the first little while, I was strong and secure in my decision with only 7 foods. And then one day it wasn't as convenient - and I had to eat - so I barely cheated. I mean, not even a big enough cheat to talk about. Until the next day it happened again. And before I knew it I was ordering pizza instead of chicken and green tea instead of water. Which leads me to day 19 where I sit with my friend at a buffet after church and devour a plate of anything and everything. So I sit on his couch to write this post and think, "How did I get to a place where cheating wasn't even a second thought?"


Maybe you, dear reader, couldn't care less if I eat fish or chicken or cheeseburger or turkey or pork. You probably don't even mind the fact that I cheat. But I do... well, I did. In the beginning.


I lament to myself about how strong I was when I started. I told everyone about the 7 challenge and how I intended to see it through. How it would change my life and how they should try it too. I was committed to the boundaries set out in front of me and I was up for the challenge. I-was-strong. But slowly it became "too hard." I gave in once, then twice, then three times and then... and then I ordered pizza and it was all over.


I was strong.
It got hard.
I caved.


Suddenly, this feels a lot like the way sin creeps in.

"Feed My Lambs"

Day TWO: it's 11:57 pm.

I suck at 7. It's only day two and I'm already bending the rules. What the heck is wrong with me? First, I HAD to have some of that to-die-for-sauce we talked about it. My chicken at lunch was just so plain and boring without it. Ok wait, let me back up. I should have said, "my second lunch" because my first attempt at lunch was at McAlister's with Ashley and Jillian. I tried to follow 7 guidelines but it just wasn't appealing. So I hardly ate - put it in a to-go box - and hit the road. After running errands I came home to cook chicken for growth group tonight and that's when I began to get hungry. Hence, my second lunch. All I had was chicken. No sides or anything.. AND I drank water. That's progress, right? I've tried to justify condiments in my mind so many times but none of them seem okay. Although dinner at growth group was "7-worthy" I didn't eat much because, let's get real, baked chicken and steamed broccoli can only be good so many times a day. So laying in bed, trying to fall asleep so I won't realize I'm hungry ... I realized I was hungry. "Oh, what I would give for just one oreo right now.  I need a small simple snack."

The temptation got the best of me. I went downstairs to find a snack - Lance's Cream Cheese Chives crackers - and they were marvelous. Walking back to my bedroom I justified my actions by thinking that I was too hungry to sleep. And there is no way God would want me to (1) be hungry and (2) lose sleep over it.  ...................... OH, the humanity. How arrogant of me to assume I was entitled to a midnight snack simply because God doesn't want me to suffer from a little hunger pains when there are people dying every minute from hunger.

So I began to research hunger. Big mistake.

Did you know that every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger? Or that one out of every eight children under the age of 12 in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night? Half of all children under five years of age in South Asia and one third of those in sub-Saharan Africa are malnourished.

Therefore in the time it took me to write this post, 8 people have died from hunger - and obviously, I'm not one of them. I'm not even close to being one of them. I will probably never have to fight for life on account of lack of food. However there is a child somewhere in the world right now drawing his last breath as his mother looks on the scene weeping for her son. I begin to pray for these kids. These mothers. These families. Won't someone tell them about Jesus, and the hope we have in Him? 

In the midst of this, I found two neat websites where you and I can both help with world hunger. I realize that it's such a distant problem to most of us. The majority, if not all, of the people reading this are like me - and will never have to experience starvation. I know that if you could look into the eyes of a child who knows not where or when his next meal will be, it would become personal. The thing is, though, most people in America never will. You can help and here is how:

• Backpack Buddies is a local organization that provides for students in the Hattiesburg inner-city schools who suffer from a lack of food supply. There are children who, when they go home on Friday afternoon, are not able to eat until they return to school on Monday. The volunteers at BPB go to their school every Friday and stuff their backpacks with pantry items that they can eat over the weekend. (Selfishly, I'd like you to give your donations of food/money/time to BPB because it's the one I'm involved with and I know just how much help we need. But no pressure.)
• Bread for the World is an organization who urges decision maker's in our nation to help end hunger both here and in other countries. Their website is a great resource for facts on hunger. It also explains very clearly what they do and how we can help. 
• World Hunger Fund is a fund within the Southern Baptist Convention in which EVERY SINGLE DIME goes directly to end hunger. $0.20 of every dollar is spent in-house on hunger projects in the U.S. and $0.80 of every dollar are sent to the IMB (International Mission Board) for international projects. This is another great resource for facts and statistics on hunger. 

Suddenly, I'm not so hungry anymore.

Day FOUR:

I'm much more proud of myself today. I've cheated less. And by less, I mean not at all. Although I have had a headache for three days straight, this reduced eating thing might actually turn out well for my body. Look people, I don't know if you realize this but I'm getting virtually NO sugar in my blood flow and certainly no caffeine. You don't even understand what this means. Maybe it means headaches? Maybe its the cause of my un-Christ-like behavior. You just read "no caffeine" right? 

Regardless, I've decided to add a new touch to 7. Through reducing my life, I'm realizing just how easy we have it. There are certain conveniences Ashley and I are not enjoying this month. For one, we can't just go to growth group/town/dinner at a friend's house and eat whatever our hosts decide to prepare. I can't drive through Ward's on my way to work (daily) and get breakfast. Here's the point: I'm becoming much more aware of the abundant choices we have. People all over the world, including here, have almost no option to eat while our options are endless. So each month, we'll find an organization that's cause-worthy (ie Backpack Buddies) and donate to that cause. 

After all, I used to drive through Ward's everyday. That money's gotta somewhere, right? 

And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry 

   and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, 

then your light will rise in the darkness, 

   and your night will become like the noonday. 

Isaiah 58:10

Month 1 of 7; Day 1 of 29

Before I get too far, I should tell you what I'm doing. In a nutshell it goes like this:
-Jen Hatmaker is a witty author. (Lots of my friends are so over hearing about my obsession with her - but like good friends do, they smile and listen... pretending to still care.)
-She wrote a book called "7: an Experimental Mutiny Against Excess."
-This is the basis of the book: 

-My friend Ashley and I are going to do this. 

-We bought Jen's book - read it - laughed our heads off - cried our heads off - God convicted our heads off ---- and well, here we are: at day one. 

Month One: Food 


Day One:


I woke up hungry, which isn't all that unusual. The next 29 days, however, will be anything but usual. As I lay here in my bed before going downstairs to start the first day of 7, I ponder what this month will be like. For the next month, I am only eating 7 food items. What will that do to me? How will that change or strengthen my relationship with my Father?

"This is a fast, a major reduction of the endless possibilities that accompany my every meal. It is supposed to be uncomfortable and inconvenient. Not because I'm a narcissist but because the discomfort creates space for the Holy Spirit to move. This shake-up of my routine commands my attention. I can no longer default to normal, usual, mindless, thoughtless. It's like having an eyelash under my contact all day. What will the Spirit do with this new space? I don't know. We'll see. It's His to engineer. I won't box Him in or assume I know what He'll say. I'm not going to project my goals onto His movement. I have simply said, 'Jesus, may there be less of me and my junk and more of You and Your kingdom.' I will reduce so He can increase." - Jen Hatmaker

That's how I feel. Who knows what will happen over the next 7-ish months? It's His to engineer. We will see. So here is how this is going to go down: February is "food month" which I like to think was God's divine provision because He knew I would need as few days as possible to fast from the thing that I may or may not love more than anything else on the planet: food. I'm a foodie - and I don't mean in a good way. I eat things that are way too unhealthy and I eat abnormal amounts of it. I mean, I just like food, ok? THEREFORE, this month will be trying - I know - but, fingers crossed, it will also be refreshing and make me grateful. Oh, my list? Ok... here it is:


1. Wheat Bread
2. Eggs
3. Turkey
4. Chicken
5. Broccoli
6. Strawberries
7. Squash


In Jen's words, this healthy roll call will be washed down with water and that's that. Ashley, my faithful companion, has decided to narrow her habit down to only 2 cups of coffee a day - as opposed to 5 or 6. How sacrificial of her, huh? So I figure if she can still have coffee, I can still have milk. But only at breakfast. Any time else will be some straight up H2O - hold the lemon and splenda, please!


As far as giving some life to my array of choices up there, salt, pepper, and Tony's will do the trick. No condiments or seasonings for this gal. (Shoot me now.) Now is a good time to tell you that my dad's friend has created this sweet/spicy BBQ/ketchup sauce that is TO.DIE.FOR. Listen to me people, this stuff is the bomb. I plan a meal around this sauce and what I can put it on. Bye-bye to-die-for sauce, see you in a few weeks.


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11:45 pm on Day One:


Ok, so maybe this won't be so bad. I can already tell that breakfast is going to be the worst part. I am by far a breakfast girl. I'm the one who shouts "Cracker Barrel" or "Waffle House" when deciding with friends where to eat because I know I can get breakfast food there any time of the day or night. And now, for the next few weeks, eggs are pretty much my only option for breakfast. And toast too, but this is going to get really old really fast. My breakfast this morning?

Note to self: Tony's does not make scrambled eggs taste better. Maybe it was due to the unimaginable busy work day, but the rest of the day was fairly easy. You wouldn't believe how many different ways you can have chicken.


I didn't stop long enough to think about the spiritual effects of today. I was too busy planning meals that consist of my reduced menu. I know one thing is for sure though. I cannot wait to experience the Spirit in this newfound space.


Thank you for joining me on this journey. Talk to ya in a few days :)