Privilege

“I want to practice being comfortable with discomfort”.

Do you ever have a clarifying moment? One of those instances when a thought runs through your head and you suddenly realize just how privileged it is.

“I want to practice being comfortable with discomfort.”

I practice that often. I think it drives my husband a bit nutty when he says “You don’t HAVE to put up with/do <fill in the blank>” (or “You know you can just….”) in an attempt to make my life easier or more comfortable and I refuse. I don’t always consciously choose to be uncomfortable or make something more difficult than necessary but sometimes I do and it’s very much in an attempt to build a tolerance to that sensation. I don’t necessarily WANT to be comfortable. Definitely not all the time.

Let’s sit in that for moment though. Do you see the privilege that saturates the above statements? The fact that I get to CHOOSE whether I want to be uncomfortable or not. The fact that 99% of the time, I get to CHOOSE when to step out of the hardship, difficulty, or discomfort. The fact that I may not want to be comfortable in my (comfortable) American life style but I CAN be. The fact that the mere statement is tinged with arrogance and steeped with first world advantage.

All that doesn’t make it any less true. I still don’t want to be entirely comfortable. If God places me in an incredibly uncomfortable, even painful, inescapable season of life, I don’t want to be blindsided. I don’t believe that I’m only called to a life of comfort and luxury (although I am WELL aware that I have the opportunity to live that right now). (Also – I know there’s a whole spiritual side of that where we could discuss reliance on God etc but I’m currently speaking physically and mentally.)

(And if we’re being really honest, the  most privileged, selfish reason for this is because practicing discomfort helps with triathlon/racing).

How many people do I know, either personally or peripherally, that don’t have the choice of comfort. How many living in third world countries? How many living in deplorable conditions here in the U.S?

I don’t have a nice tidy ending here. No plan of or call to action. Nothing. Just one of those moments of recognition.

Menu Planning Monday – 01/08/18

Happy 2018!!! I LOVE new years. I’m always optimistic and excited for the days to come and this year is no different. Our holidays were low key and laid back. Because we have boys with lives of their own now, I scheduled our family Christmas for 8:00am on New Years Day. We didn’t have plans to go out and we don’t usually stay up until midnight so I wasn’t concerned about the time……… And then we got an invite to go to friends’ house. “Okay. No big deal.” I thought “We probably won’t stay the whole time.” Except we DID. So I was not exactly in the Christmas spirit when my alarm went off on New Years Day. But a quick cup of coffee and setting out gifts turned that around right quick.

Anyway. Food. That’s the topic today, right? I did not do a lot of cooking over the holidays and even less planning. What I did cook was uninspired at best and this week hasn’t changed a lot.

Monday: grilled cheese sandwiches and soup (that I have in the freezer from last time we had this)

Tuesday: brupper (breakfast for supper) – I’ll make pancakes and heat up some beef Lil Smokies sausages. Yum. They’re my favorite.

Wednesday: Is youth group/fend for yourself night. I’ll be swimming (triathlon training season is fully upon us) so I’ll need to plan something in advance that’s pre-made or quick*.

Thursday: Life group night!

Friday: I’m hoping to have a girls night but there’s no definite plans so who knows!

But I would love to share with you one of my absolutely favorite recipes. (*This is probably what I’ll eat Wednesday night). My obsession lately has been gyros. I crave them all the time. I LOVE the warm, soft, fluffy pitas but I don’t need to eat them often (or at all). So my compromise is this recipe I found during The Husband and my ill fated Whole30 experiment several years ago. Deconstructed Gyro Salad Don’t be turned off by the Whole30/paleo label. This salad is AHHHMAZING. I have the meat cooking right now and it smells terrific. I don’t use lamb. I had some steaks in the freezer that needed to be used. I’ve also used stew meat. And while the dressing recipe included is to DIE for, you don’t have to go with that, especially if you’re not Whole30/paleo. I bought some tzatziki ranch in the specialty dressing section. It won’t be as good, but it’ll do the trick. You could probably also make the dressing with plain Greek yogurt although I haven’t tried that. If you like gyros but are watching your carbs for some reason, or just want to get more veggies in (who doesn’t?) try this. You’re welcome.

Manic Mon….um…Tuesday?

This past weekend was crazy busy with wonderful events. It started with a work party on Friday night and I was non-stop busy until bedtime Sunday night. I minimized a lot this season…shopping is scaled back, baking was almost non-existent. And yet, somehow, I feel more frazzled than ever before. Small details are starting slip. Maybe because there’s more events? More expectations? More white elephant gift exchanges and causes to be supported and schedules to be worked around? Whatever the reason(s), we’ve made compromises this year. Some of the local friends/family that I would especially like to spoil won’t even be receiving a Christmas card. My plan is to put together something after the New Year for them. And our family Christmas? Well…due to older boys’ work schedules, that is happening New Year’s Day. Instead, LilBit and I are decorating gingerbread houses and drinking hot chocolate on Christmas Eve Day before he leaves for a week.

All that to say, there has been no organized menu planning. Last night I planned spaghetti & meat sauce since I had meat sauce in the freezer already. I pulled it out to throw in the microwave and thought “Huh. That doesn’t SMELL like spaghetti sauce…” I thought briefly it might be chili then realized it was from smothered burritos. So I pulled out tortillas and chips and we had  nachos/tacos. Tonight was slow cooker beef and broccoli. Tomorrow is going to be ham and white bean soup in the Instant Pot. Thursday is a Christmas pot luck and I’m taking sausages & meatballs in the bbq/chili sauce. At some point this weekend, I’ll use the rice left over from tonight to make fried rice & egg rolls. Next week? No idea. We’ll figure it out as we go. I’m at capacity for keeping track of details and planning.

I don’t expect to do another Worship Wednesday until after the New Year either, although tomorrow’s chapel topic at work is Worship in Song so that’s cool.

Amidst the season busyness, I found myself being quite grateful for little things today: a coworker that hums pleasantly throughout the day, a walk with teammates, the realization that my mother raised us to be flexible and relaxed about when we celebrate holidays, fun conversations, laughter, and Christmas cards in the mail to name a few.

I expect this week to start slowing down and I’m looking forward to a quiet, restful holiday.

Menu Planning Monday – 12/11/17

This week is going to be a little busy. It might be the busiest of the holiday season actually – the last half of it anyway. It’s all fun and temporary craziness but I only have two dinners planned for the week. My lunches will consist of salads & leftovers. My favorite salad right now is spinach/kale, tomato, cucumber and Tyson buffalo style chicken strips with ranch. Another favorite is spinach/kale, fruit of some sort (raspberries, mandarin oranges, cherries, strawberries), feta, candied walnuts & a lemon vinaigrette (optional: grilled chicken).

Monday: Chicken alfredo – I’m going to try the Birdseye vegetable pasta for my plate (my family will get normal pasta). Should be…interesting.

Tuesday: Potato vegetable cheesy chowder

Wednesday: leftovers/fend for yourself – I need to swim that night but I also need to bake cookies for later in the week. (sigh) I’ll let you know what wins out.

Thursday: Small group so whatever is served

Friday: Work Christmas party. It’s appetizers and desserts so I’m hoping to talk The Hubby into going out to our favorite place for dinner before the party.

Saturday: In the morning is a cookie exchange at the church (hence why I have to find time to bake…). That evening we’re going to see the new Star Wars movie. At some point I really need to do my holiday baking but we’ll see how that turns out.

Sunday: Probably my baking day so Papa Murphy will probably feed us.

I hope the holiday season is feeding you well!

Worship Wednesday – Prayer

“to honor or reverence as a divine being or supernatural power” and “to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion“

We could easily worship someone and never have a conversation with them. It happens all the time with celebrities. But. If you worship someone – wouldn’t you WANT to have a conversation with them? My God is a God of relationships. He WANTS to have conversations with us. He doesn’t want us to be distant or intimidated by Him. And prayer is our vehicle for that conversation. Yet I often find my prayers are of the “vending machine” variety.

“Dear Lord, please help this conversation go well.”

“Dear Lord, please give me energy.”

“Dear Lord, please heal, please give, please help….”

I think God wants to hear our requests and desires but I think those requests should be tempered with a desire to want what He wants, a desire to know Him more. Too often my prayers revolve around what I want, whether that’s “interceding” for someone else or just looking to minimize – or eliminate – discomfort in my own life. But if my prayer life focused on WORSHIP, if I spent my prayer time revering and praising and thanking God, how would my perspective change?

Menu Planning Monday – 12/04/2017

Here’s a tidbit about me. I’m a list maker and planner. But I don’t like those lists and plans to be set in stone. So if I have a meal planned and we decide to eat out, or that we (or I) want something else, no problem. A couple of weekends ago I came home from grocery shopping. Per the schedule/plan I had in my head, I was going to the gym next. But The Hubby had not left to visit his Grandma yet and asked if I wanted to go. I had not seen in her a few weeks and was not meeting anyone at the gym so I changed my plan. I didn’t make it to the gym that day and was perfectly okay with that. I don’t have to stick to my lists and plans.  I just need to HAVE a plan. It would actually stress me out if I felt like I had to stick to it – except for commitments obviously. If someone had been expecting me at the gym, I would have gone. Anyway. My point is sometimes (often times) I might “repeat” a meal from the prior week. That just means something changed and we never had it. Except for pizza. That I would eat every week.

Oh. And the smothered burritos I had planned for last Monday? I made them (although of course I switched up the recipe a smidge.) They were DELICIOUS. Everything I had hoped and more.

Monday:  Chicken pot pie – This was planned for last Tuesday but I didn’t prep it ahead of time so dinner would have been late. And I was feeling lazy. So we had frozen Tyson buffalo style chicken strips and tater tots instead. (Yum. I love those chicken strips. And with leftovers I made a salad for lunch the next day. Delish.) The pot pie is prepped and ready to go this time.

Tuesday: Taco soup – I’m working a bit late on Tuesday so my family will have a warm meal to come home to without waiting on me or eating out.

Wednesday: left overs/fend for yourself

Thursday: Pulled bbq pork, chips and a variety of snack cakes & cookies (I’m providing snacks for our small group at church.)

Friday/Saturday: No idea! It will just be The Hubby and I so we’ll wing it.

Sunday: pizza

Worship Wednesday – Distractions

I truly believe one of Satan’s most effective tools against the Jesus follower is distraction. I can attest that’s true for me.

Whenever I think of worship, Brother Lawrence comes to mind. I had really only heard of him in passing and always associated him with making the act of washing dishes an act of worship. That was about all I knew. So I downloaded “his” book “The Practice of the Presence of God” (not an affiliate link, just for reference) It’s not difficult to read. The concept is actually quite simple…and yet incredibly difficult. I have, admittedly, not read the whole  book yet. I got about halfway through and got…distracted. But what I have taken away so far is that his entire life, physically, emotionally and mentally, was centered on Christ. Every thought was submitted to Him, every action. And when he realized it wasn’t, he IMMEDIATELY returned to that practice. Nothing in the book indicates that this easy. The title even indicates it’s a practice. But I was overwhelmingly impressed with his dedication to it.

I feel like this practice of abiding (now THERE’S a word Christians have taken over) fully in God’s presence all the time is the key to true worship. We can’t “regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion” if we are not focused on the object of our worship. Regard. Consider or think on, gaze at steadily in a specified fashion, pay attention or heed. How often during your daily tasks do you regard God? I know I don’t very often. I’m pretty good about it first thing in the morning, while the rest of the house snoozes and I sip my coffee with a cat in my lap. I’ve made a habit of stopping during the day to pray about specific requests that comes to my attention. Yesterday I had a moment of overwhelming gratitude for my job and I paused to thank God for it. (That’s not a daily occurrence by the way. I love my job but I’m rarely overwhelmed by that.) But while I’m planning or cooking dinner or helping my kid with his horrendous math homework or in the gym…I am not filtering those activities through conversation with God. Because those very activities can be a distraction or they can be a vehicle to worship the God that grants me the ability to perform those activities.  And right now, they are a distraction.

Right now (always), I’m easily distracted. I committed to focus more on God and immediately all these shiny thoughts hit my brain to draw me away. Even while praying this morning, my mind kept drifting to my grocery list…the grocery list that I hadn’t even considered before I started trying to pray!

I don’t have the answer or solution. But I think Brother Lawrence did. Practice. And as soon as I realize I’m not practicing, start again.