Give us this day our daily produce

So how do fruits and vegetables fit into living life on the edge?

A couple weeks ago Chris and I were getting ready to take our final wedding pictures (3 months late...it was awesome). When we put my wedding dress on, horror ensued: the dress no longer fit. After crying myself to sleep, I decided that was the final straw: I wanted to be healthier.

The next morning, we realized that the wedding dress DID in fact fit, and that we had done something wrong the night before. Phew! But I had still become determined to be a healthier me, and for once, not back down at the sight of a Cheesecake Factory gift card (thanks Hot Metal!)

In addition to exercising in a way that my body hates me, and occasionally tracking food calories on Livestrong.com, Chris and I have decided to make farmer's markets and the produce section of grocery stores our home sweet home. Supportive friends started writing and blogging recipes so that we didn't resort to pasta, cheese and crackers. I am currently undergoing a scavenger hunt around Pittsburgh, compiling an Excel spreadsheet comparing prices from Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Superior Produce, PennMac, Giant Eagle, and Farmer's Markets (I've been suspiciously questioned by employees 2x now...)

So how does this change of diet fit into living life on the edge? Intentionality.

As a long time eater, eating has become second nature to me, like breathing: I can do it without thinking. This is a Hindmarsh trait. My dad can consume 9 rolls in 2 seconds. I can eat a whole pie or cashew tin in one sitting. Food is the only thing my grandfather will roll his wheelchair for. The result: I am a tornado and I will consume anything in my path. I will cook from a recipe in my head that takes 15 minutes to prepare, and I will crave more food in about 1 hour.

But I have seen the silver lining. I take time to consider what I am feeding my body. I think about the food item I buy: the vitamin content, the versatility among recipes, etc. I calculate about how many people it will serve (we love having guests). When I make a dish, I can't wait to tell my friend Lena, swap recipes, and share a meal...which inevitably leads to awesome stories and fellowship. I see the creativity of God in food and spices I'd have never imagined together (avacados and cocoa powder????) blend into a melting pot of flavors that melt my face off.

To be intentional is not limited to who you spend time with, what books you're reading, what movies you're watching, what church you're attending. Intentionality can be sought in every aspect of our lives, down to the food we eat. My social justice friends will rant and rave about the ecological benefits of organic farming, vegan diets, fair trade/slave free chocolate. As Christians, we understand that we are part of a greater whole. Our dinner does not just affect our stomach or the dreams we may have. It's why we say grace, to bless the hands that prepared our food...and grew our food...and harvested our food...and sold our food. Jesus can help you make your shopping list.

Once again, He has shown me He is so good. Beyond His creation of food, of course, but in food none the less. How could I ever be satisfied with mud pies (or Hamburger helper) again?

"A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, ²⁵ for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?"
- Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

Amen.

I can't figure out how to solve world poverty

"I want to solve world poverty...that's going to take a while."

Chris says that is what I say to myself when I desire to do good in the world. And the effect paralyzes me from doing anything at all.

I guess that includes sleep.

I laid in bed continuing to think about this thing called "story." An acquaintance of mine is changing the scenery of her story and is spending the rest of her summer in Chiapas, Mexico. I am not envious of her being there, but envious of her spirit. To get up and go would be a marvelous adventure. But where am I to get up and go?

I want to get up and go to my own backyard. I want the lives of the kids I work with the change. I want to give them an opportunity to become heroes (maybe it's because I want to feel like one, too?)

So I started brainstorming on what would be possible. If their world vision changed, maybe they would change. Minds shift as our worldview shift. We are changed through challenge, through struggle, through excitement of victory. What if I had them choose a goal that made a difference in someone else's life? Would their life change then too, even just 1 degree, if they knew they were changing the life of someone else?

So I've ordered 5 catalogs from World Vision...that's about all I can do right now at 3:17am. The end of world poverty may have to wait, but it can at least begin.

My heart is on fire. Lord, show me the way when the smoke clears...

Choose Your Own Adventure (reflection on the principle of "Story")

A couple updates from October 2010 that are worth mentioning:

1. I got engaged Nov 1st, 2010 to Chris Massa

2. I got married on March 5th, 2011 to Chris Massa

3. We are doing very, very well

There that should do it. You are now aware of most of the important changes in my life. Moving on...

Chris and I took a spontaneous road trip across the state to visit his parents and best friends, Phil and Carrie, who just had their first son, Isaac. (Some people would say that names don't matter because ultimately, I'm the only one who knows who they are. I say I'd rather identify someone by their name because it makes them a person...rant done.)

This was the first road trip in a long time in which I enjoyed the drive as much as the final destination. On the return home, we began listening to the audio book of Donald Miller's "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." A few things you should know about my reading habits: I don't get past the first chapter, and I fall asleep within 15 minutes of a book being read. Chris has resorted to reading me short stories in order to help me fall asleep when my insomina wants to kick in (I still don't know how the Leopard got it's spots...) So, in fear that I would fall asleep, Chris told me the summary of this book before we started listening: Donald dissects the principle of "story" (a character wants something and chooses to overcome obstacles in order to get it) and what it means to have a story that's worthwhile.

I fell asleep at Chapter 2 and woke up at Chapter 10. Donald was talking to a friend who after discussing "story" with Donald, decided to change the story of his family in efforts to save his daughter. His daughter was using drugs and dating the unapproved boyfriend. So Don's friend decided that instead of grounding her, he would give her an opportunity to changer her story by entering into his: building an orphanage for $25,000. After a couple days, the daughter asked if the family could go to Mexico to visit the orphans. Then she stopped using drugs. Then she dumped her boyfriend. And then the quote that made me turn off the audio book so that I could digest it and eventually led me to write this blog: "A girl playing the hero does not date a loser like that."

How would our lives change if we thought about our stories?

What story are you in? Is it a story assigned to you, you created, or fell into without thinking? Does your story keep you interested, or are you falling asleep during the first chapter? Do you think your story will end in victory, defeat, or (the worst) when it just leaves you hanging with no answer?

What character are you? Are you a survivor who beats incredible odds? A victim who dies tragically of his own character flaw? Are you the one mentioned in line 2 page 164 and quickly forgotten by line 2.5?

If every worthwhile story has struggle, how do you respond when it comes? Do you fight head on like Indiana Jones who somehow always defeats the Nazis although they outnumber him 10-1? Do you join the Dark Side when it becomes too hard? Do you sacrifice yourself so that those around you can still have victory?

I wonder how I can apply this lesson of story to my life and to the lives of the kids I work with. Sometimes I feel we can become trapped by a story provided by a psychiatrist, or an abusive father, or a powerless religion that says the climax of "His Story" is church on Sunday and reading Bible stories. Do I believe that the True Author gives us collaborative rights to our own story, and that it can be a beautiful,edge of your seat novel of romance, adventure, and ultimate victory?

Let's choose our own adventure, friends. Let's have stories worth reading, worth living, worth waking up for. I don't want to keep falling asleep...