My Kale Experiment

Remember that time I decided to try to be health-trendy? It happened tonight.

Yes, I enjoy being healthy. Not because it's in style, but out of obedience to being a good steward of all God has given; my body included. I grew up on fruit leathers, gorilla munch, fresh veggies and other such yummies from Trader Joe's. Freshman year of College included a 6 hr course (we were the pilot class) in "Sustenance and Sustainability" with only 13 of us in the class, two graduate-teaching professors and a field trip each week. We read author's like Barbara Kingsolver and Michael Pollan and investigated the evolution and reliability (or unreliability) of organic labels. We learned about the woes of hydrogenated oils (and my friends who knew me then might chuckle at this point because I became slightly zealous about this topic for a time), and began to appreciate the joys and sacredness of cooking and preparing meals with your hands alongside others. I took a nutrition class my last semester of college for kicks, too. Loved it.
Also, can I just mention that hydrogenated oils are so bad that they're something that is banned in some countries and cities. Just sayin'. Apparently I'm still slightly zealous.

So that's a short intro to the health foodie I enjoy being.

Recipe at "Oh She Glows" blog

Anyhow, a quick and easy go-to healthy and substantial meal I like to make is Black Bean Quinoa Salad. First time I made it was from a basic recipe on allrecipes.com. Then I started to change it a little. And tonight I decided to see what kinds of twists other people have put on this basic recipe. I stumbled upon this one at a website that had a whole bunch of other great recipes, including one for a kale and apple smoothie.


I've been working on the smoothie for most of the blog, so I'll let you know how it was at the end.

I've heard kale is great for you many times but just hadn't drunk the kool-aid yet. (Yes, I linked that phrase for my international friends who might read that and be very confused.)

I mean, how bad could it be if I disguise it in a smoothie? Especially since the smoothie had maple syrup in the ingredient list!

Not to mention, it has so many other great immune-boosting ingredients that provide a wide range of nutrients I don't regularly get in my food.

 

Although, I must say, as I kept piling ingredients in, I could help but think, "This just isn't right. These things don't go in a blender.".... and "Wait, who even decided that this was a good idea and tried it?!"

So I've finished the smoothie and the blog and this is where I'm supposed to say, "it was so yummy!".

It wasn't.

All gone

It wasn't bad, either.

It actually kind of tasted like nothing and so the coolness was just refreshing.
Besides, I am mentally satisfied that I painlessly just crammed some nutrient-dense goodies into my body. It also only took about 7 minutes to make. No complaints here.
I recommend you try it. Especially if you're feeling gross and crummy from eating a lot of heavy foods recently.

Stunning Families pt. 1

Hello there! As I came to my blog after many neglected months to put up a new post, I saw this post in my drafts box. It may be out of date, but still a great short post that is still very true. This is from spring 2013 semester of senior year of college.

Last night I got to spend some time with one of the most absolutely stunning families that are in my life right now. They are beautiful in so many ways. Mainly they are beautiful simply because they were created by God. But additionally they are beautiful because of the way God has knit them together as a whole and has knit each of their hearts. The couple have five kids, two are biological and three adopted. The most recently adopted is 8 years old, is deaf and from Ghana. Such a beautiful dynamic in the siblings going in so many ways

I have nothing particular to say about tonight or any special story to share. I simply felt the need to acknowledge them as a treasured part of my life. I love the nights, like tonight, that I get to spend watching them so that one of my church leaders and his wife may go spend some time nourishing their marriage. I love the nights where I get to chit chat with the wife, and the times where me and a bunch of other college students bombard the trampoline with the kids. Their faith, as well as faithfulness, is great, and God is shone very clearly and in vivid color through them. I thank God for any chance I get to serve a family who has served the needy and the orphan.

Also, if you're interested, the wife shared a blog post that she read from a woman who explains what it is like to adopt so very well. She is just very real. Her post stirs great compassion and further understanding into that whole realm in a very easy and short read. I loved reading it. http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2012/08/21/the-truth-about-adoption-one-year-later#.UDPkRfwm9Jg.facebook

I have transferred what you need...

Pride and entitlement are probably the two biggest adversaries for a believer; entitlement, of course, stemming from pride. I have been recently discovering the depths to which my pride reaches down into my character, thoughts and heart, and been thus overwhelmed and disgusted. I run repeatedly to my Savior almost shouting in desperation “TAKE IT AWAY!” as I point a horrified finger at the specific area that I have newly discovered the pride lurking. Its hiding spots are fairly obvious; it’s under and behind wherever I am. Therefore I discover over and over that my horrified finger-pointing is really pointing at myself and asking my Savior “TAKE ME AWAY!”… “and replace me with you. Abba. Please.”

Pride and my ongoing realization of that battle, especially throughout my past few months, is a whole other story. In this note, I mean to specifically address a seemingly skewed reception of grace I have and believe many others must as well. And I hope to point to the great energy that can be found when that reception and perception is realigned.

I have mentioned before that my relationship with my father has time and time again taught me about my relationship with our Great God as father. It is only one facet of our relation to Him, but is a very tangible one when you have a good, just and loving earthly father (who, of course, still has very human moments but is still so very transparent, only by God’s refining grace, that I see the image of my heavenly Father through my dad). The past three years of my life, I have been pretty much completely self-sufficient. College has been paid through grants and scholarships, and my rent, groceries, etc. by my own paycheck. I have been able to afford vacations, flights to visit my parents in the middle of Asia, etc. All by tremendous blessing from the Lord and wise budgeting based on what I had. This past summer, a couple things turned the tables. A combination of opting to work at a camp instead of a job during the summer, losing a scholarship due to a drop in grades from a hard and busy spring 2012 semester, and late filing with the financial aid department have found me not as financially free this semester. Don’t get me wrong, the Lord is still providing and I am still working hard, but this is a season of, well, just living like the stereo-typical college student. That's all that has really happened to me.

Anyhow, I called my father for advice on which loans, etc. to consider in order to cover my tuition bill while I wait for some of my other delayed aid funds to come through. The conversation ended with “I’ve transferred what you need to your account.” How simple. Simple, because he had the capacity to do such a thing. How much more capacity does our Heavenly Father have to give to us freely to cover our debt of sin. He has transferred what we need onto us: His grace. Of course, I will be paying my earthly daddy back J, but I still feel a great sense of relief from the grace extended to me, though I did not even ask. This relief, though, is coupled with guilt that I even had to go to him about my finances after 3 years of independence and self sufficiency.

I sat at my desk at work for an hour after the conversation toiling over how to rectify my feeling of shame/guilt. Three scenarios went through my mind. The first was to somehow keep bugging the financial aid department to send my disbursement as soon as possible so I could pay my dad back as soon as possible. Or to somehow find a job that I can work 12 hours a day and pay him pack with an interest I chose to add. Yeah… pretty ridiculous and basically impossible. And yet, similar to the ridiculous and impossible way we try to make it up to God that He had to forgive us by doing good works or by proving ourselves to Him. That option only cycled through my brain for a few brief moments.

The next scenario was that I be ok with what he did because I believe that I’m somehow worth it; that I am entitled to this act. “Other people’s parents pay for ALL of their college and flights and rent and food, surely it is right for my father to help me out with one semester’s tuition’s. That’s just the way things work. He’s just doing the right thing, and I deserve it.” Ok, so those aren’t the exact things I was thinking, but I might as well state it as such because the sugar coated thoughts of entitlement that crept up are just as gross as the sassy sentences I wrote above.

These thoughts, sadly, cycled through my brain much longer than the first of “good works”. Not because I truly believe I am entitled, but because it was the mode of thinking that ended up giving me the most comfort. If I could somehow trick myself into feeling entitled and normalizing his actions, then I would feel no guilt! And this is where I get to the point that I believe my reception of God’s grace is very similar. In fact, I think this is the case for many of us. Many of us live in a Christian culture, where, yes, God’s grace does abound, but we are so used to it, it becomes normalized. We feel entitled to it because he gives it out SO freely that it seems to be our right to take it. After all, isn’t HE the one choosing to give it to us in the first place? While we were still yet sinners and all?

The last option is to simply receive the Grace. Our natural response to true reception of a gift is not to explain why we have received it or deserve it, but to accept it and say "Oh thank you, thank you!". It is particularly when we understand the great depth of our sin that we understand the astounding greatness of the gift, and therefore all the more thankful. This thankfulness leads us to love and if we truly love our Father, then we will obey Him. Jesus places these two things before us correlative and even inseparable (John 14:15). The depth of the gift is not meant to make us scurry around to find an explanation because we feel that extreme weight lifted and feel as though we should be worthy of the gift. Instead, the depth of the gift is meant to lead us into love and joy. As a man who has discovered treasure in a field, he goes and joyfully sells all he has to purchase that land (Matt 13:44). We discover the great treasure bestowed to us and almost involuntarily we in turn willingly give up all we have to fully embrace and receive the treasure. If we love Him, we will obey Him.

How much all-out obedience do we see in our lives and in the American church? The answer is "not enough". And praise God that Jesus has died for all our "not enough" moments. But it is not good to leave it at that. I believe one on the sources of our lack of obedience is potentially due to a response and reception to grace that is very similar to my second response. We explain the magnificent gift away with a simple and faulty sense of entitlement. Well, if the magnitude of the gift is lost, then so is the magnitude of any right response we might have- the response of love, and therefore obedience, that we should have.

Lord! Let us not be a people of entitled attitudes. Let us receive grace graciously, in all it's fullness that we might respond in rejoicing, love and obedience in all their fullness.