Happy New Year my beloved friends! How many times have you written 2019 wrong already? I’m 2 for 6 so far.
I’ve been doing some discernment and reflection the past four or five months around the work I hope to do in the world. I think it started with someone asking me a cheesy but profound question: “What do you hope someone says about you at your funeral?”
It feels like such a cliche question. But somehow it cuts right to the heart of it all. How are we living our lives? We often forget we only get one shot at this life. Are we doing the things we enjoy? Are we serving others? Are we using the one voice we have to speak up when something can be better? We all need that question posed to us once in a while.
As I let the question do its work on me, I noticed a few things start to circle my life. It’s inviting me to make some big shifts in my life that I didn’t see coming. It’s led to some new creative projects I want to send out into the world. One of those I get to announce this Friday! So drop in on Facebook or Insta on Friday for a fun update!
This gluten free thing
I decided to experiment with gluten free eating this past fall. I realized maybe everyone doesn’t feel fairly awful after they eat certain foods and it was time to take better care of my body. I’m six weeks in and feeling better. I’ve got more energy, less fibromyalgia pain and I’m sleeping better. So who knows…I might keep with it for a while. It’s hard to think about committing to this for the rest of my life! But going back doesn’t seem like an option either. Anyone else find themselves in that awkward space when it comes to making eating changes?
Leave a comment below. I’d love to hear how you’re managing that.
My family traveled to Florida for the holidays and we had a wonderfully restful time. We literally didn’t travel more than 2 miles away from my in-law’s home more than once or twice. Paddle boarding, boating, swimming, football watching and napping were just what we needed.
Traveling while making a food shift isn’t easy. I packed food as much as I could, but you should have seen me wandering around a Walmart in rural central Florida. No, they did not have many gluten-free products. I was not in the Pacific Northwest anymore.
This led to me sitting in the front seat of our van, holding a bag of tortilla chips and dipping green beans and tomatoes in hummus. It was so good. And not what I would have ever pictured as road trip food. But oh well.
We arrived 8 hours later at my in-laws’ home. After a flurry of hugs, cries for the bathroom and kicking off our shoes, my mother-in-law casually mentioned there was a plate of chocolate chip pumpkin muffins on the counter. My heart sank a little as I realized it was going to be a long week of finding my own food I could eat. Then she said, “Oh and they’re gluten free.” What an incredible touch of hospitality at the end of a long day. I got to eat some comfort food with everyone else!
You know how we settle for small things when the One who made us longs to surprise us with abundance?
Turns out their kitchen and pantry was filled with gluten free food just for me! I couldn’t believe she had gone above and beyond like that to help me feel comfortable and loved. (I had felt extra silly because this food change was optional. I don’t have celiac so anyone making an extra fuss felt unnecessary). But I’ve been learning at church about the practice of receiving so that’s what I did.
With a heart full of joy and appreciation, I received the gift of love in the form of gluten free bread, pretzels and chips.
Here’s to receiving the ways people try to love us this week. May we not deflect or excuse or dismiss the moments. May we take a deep breath, let down our defenses and feel the love others so deeply want to share with us.
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