Weekend Update January 16, 2007

Here’s a quick look at the first full weekend on our fasting journey:

• Food sets the mood. We like our weekends to feel set apart, different from the week. We do lots of things along these lines: leisurely, homemade breakfasts, long stretches of reading (with coffee for me), fun food on Friday and Saturday nights. So when Brian and I discussed dinner plans for Friday night, it seemed downright wrong to be having soup and salad. It seemed like the fun police came to snatch our good time away.  But we reminded ourselves that part of the reason for the fast is to sacrifice the worldly pleasures for greater treasures.
• And when we woke up to a blustery Saturday morning with icicles hanging off the trees (in Texas), I had to remind myself of that again as I started the tea kettle and not the coffee pot ;)
• And since I love a hot beverage, if I wasn’t drinking herbal tea, then I was often enjoying hot apple cider – which also turns out to be a pretty good reading accompaniment.
• I got occasional cases of the grumps which usually either followed the umpteenth meal I had cooked or being in places where I’d usually be eating/buying favorite foods.
• Honey-mustard saves the day! We often have burgers and fries on Saturday nights (turkey burgers, whole wheat buns and organic, baked fries), so in an effort for some fun food I tried for something close. I found some Veggie Medley Gardenburgers (no bun, of course), baked the usual organic fries (all fast-friendly ingredients), and made some coleslaw with Veggenaise mayo. It was the ketchup for the fries that befuddled me until I remembered honey- mustard. I just mixed some plain mustard and honey and voila – dipping heaven!
• And in case you didn’t catch the previous post, can you tell I reeeeally like food? Funny how something so simple as sustenance can take on much greater meaning. I spent a few moments last night catching up on some favorite blogs, and found the perfect counterpoint to my rumblings: ‘Two ways to taste God are by drinking in His words and breathing in His presence in prayer. This is a way to take refuge in Him. “
  

  Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

Thanks for sharing that, Katherine. It hit the spot!

• And ya know what? God did give us an absolutely wonderful weekend together. By the end of the day Sunday, I felt full of love, relaxed, renewed and not one bit deprived. Those momentary pleasures we skipped were just that – sure they’re pleasurable, but they’re merely momentary. Those sips and tastes are so small when compared with what’s truly important in our lives.