22 The only source of light for the body is the eye. If you look at people and want to help them, you will be full of light. 23 But if you look at people in a selfish way, you will be full of darkness. And if the only light you have is really darkness, you have the worst kind of darkness. -Matthew 6
With the first week of this fast coming to an end, I can honestly say that I am ready to continue on to week two. I've struggled with a lot of things these past couple of days. Mainly, preparation. I wholeheartedly believe that organization is a skill that people are blessed with. I've spent the past five years of my life trying to become a super organizer and planner. I am horrible at it. I lose everything. "She would probably lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body." Yeah, that saying was probably created by someone a lot like I am. I am always (jokingly) preparing my husband for the moment I am diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Anyway, I bring this up because the rest of my week consisted of last minute throw together meals and buying my children fast food.
Wednesday: Day 3For breakfast I made whole wheat pancakes. These turned out very delicious. I can't even take credit for it, I got the recipe here. I only substituted a couple of things. 1. I replaced applesauce with apple juice (because I didn't have applesauce on hand.) 2. I didn't add the nuts, and I didn't put the blueberries IN the pancakes. The batter ended up a lot easier to spread out, this way. In a seperate pot I thought I would get a little creative and make a "blueberry syrup" using organic frozen blueberries and honey...and what the heck! a little more apple juice. Standing there feeling like Juila Child, flipping my hotcakes and stirring my syrup, I made sure to thank God for what was happening. And, even though my syrup wasn't a syrup, but a sauce, it got the job done. I can't wait to make them again!
Lunchtime rolled around and I had decided that we were going to have peanut butter and fruit "pinwheels". They usually look something like the picture above. But, being on the fast I had to use my all natural ingredients. I tried making my Chapati a couple of times now...and it just isn't working out. It always ends up as a dough with the same consistency as the paste they used to give us in kindergarten. (You know, the one in the jar with the paintbrush that was always clumpy and had a smell that stayed in your nose the entire day?) But, I decided I would try and use it anyway and just sprinkle dry flour on it as I tried to roll it out. Sprinkle. Sprinkle. Sprinkle. . .sprinkle. . . .sprinkle. . .Half a bag of flour later I had my flat breads. My extremely dense flat breads. (I quit. I will be driving my happy self to Wegman's this weekend to get my all natural, pre-made bread.) The heavy bread would have been fine if I didn't buy the peanut butter that I did. On this jar of peanut butter the ingredients are as followed: peanuts. When I saw this in the store I almost literally jumped up and down with excitement. I had been staring at peanut butter for like 20 minutes. I even did one of those "I'll come back to it, later." deals. What they forgot to say on this jar was: "Caution, this peanut butter is equivalent to edible cement." Don't get me wrong, it's delicious. But that combination was lethal. My husband couldn't even finish it. It sat like a rock in my stomach for the rest of the day.
Dinner was a huge turn around for us, I made baked sweet potatoes with a black bean and corn salad. I will make this again, even after the fast. Good way to end a day.
Thursday: Day 4
Breakfast we had strawberry and cream oatmeal. I made this with oats, liquid mainly soymilk, a little bit of apple juice and a little bit of water and some strawberries diced up. Oatmeal is easy in this house, for everyone but my husband.
After breakfast we had decided to go out to run some errands, completely unprepared. Lunchtime crept up on us and all of our tummies were rumbling. I hurried through the grocery store and had to end up going to a drive-thru to hush up my kids. Luckily I made split pea soup in the crocpot, so John and I had something to scarf down when we got home. That recipe is amazing, I only added carrots to it (mistakenly, I was reading to recipes at once.) You can find it here. I will definitely make this again.
Dinnertime was quickly approaching and I had nothing to make for dinner. I didn't plan anything. My mom called and I sweet talked her into letting me come over, since she is also doing the fast. My mother has always been good at throwing stuff together and it turning out. And, as I watched her cooking our mushrooms and stirring her tomato sauce, I got a little envious. But, I was quickly reminded of the verse I read earlier that day, Matthew 6:22 & 23. I could do two things in that moment: sit there and be jealous of a natural skill she was blessed with or help her prepare our meal in the skills I am blessed with. So, I showed my mom how to microwave a spaghetti squash. Later, I showed her a tutorial online on how to roast spaghetti squash and I introduced her to the wonderful world of Pinterest. (You're welcome.) But most of all, I enjoyed my evening, my meal, and my company. I am so proud of my mother for going through this fast on her own (at home). It's very easy to get discouraged, but I'm not even choosing to glance down that road right now, and I know she isn't either.
After breakfast we had decided to go out to run some errands, completely unprepared. Lunchtime crept up on us and all of our tummies were rumbling. I hurried through the grocery store and had to end up going to a drive-thru to hush up my kids. Luckily I made split pea soup in the crocpot, so John and I had something to scarf down when we got home. That recipe is amazing, I only added carrots to it (mistakenly, I was reading to recipes at once.) You can find it here. I will definitely make this again.
Dinnertime was quickly approaching and I had nothing to make for dinner. I didn't plan anything. My mom called and I sweet talked her into letting me come over, since she is also doing the fast. My mother has always been good at throwing stuff together and it turning out. And, as I watched her cooking our mushrooms and stirring her tomato sauce, I got a little envious. But, I was quickly reminded of the verse I read earlier that day, Matthew 6:22 & 23. I could do two things in that moment: sit there and be jealous of a natural skill she was blessed with or help her prepare our meal in the skills I am blessed with. So, I showed my mom how to microwave a spaghetti squash. Later, I showed her a tutorial online on how to roast spaghetti squash and I introduced her to the wonderful world of Pinterest. (You're welcome.) But most of all, I enjoyed my evening, my meal, and my company. I am so proud of my mother for going through this fast on her own (at home). It's very easy to get discouraged, but I'm not even choosing to glance down that road right now, and I know she isn't either.
So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it. 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? 27 You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it. -Matthew 6
So, I'm not going to worry about it.
And you know what?
Today I was blessed this morning with extra sleep. Thank you, husband.
A recipe I half remembered, half made up (which turned out amazing). Thank you, Nadir.
And enough of that recipe, I can eat it for lunch and dinner tonight. That means no stress planning my meals this evening. I'll take it.
--Ashley
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