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Becoming Blind, In Order to See

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I was ten. We were pulling away from our church parking lot. My mother was in tears. She was in a hard moment in her life. I remember her tearful frustration that there was no help offered by church friends. “Is it because we appear to be doing well?” She asked, not wanting an answer. The fact was clear to me that Mom was not doing well. But that was not the kind of well she meant.

My dad was a computer engineer in the 80’s. We were doing well compared to most folks in our small county church who’s income was probably half of my Dad’s.

Our home was a godly home. Back then, we might have been considered to be ultra-conservative sense we didn’t own a television and we home-schooled. We were about the only ones in our church holding to such standards and our family appeared to be a very godly one.

My mother was in-particular a very godly women, rising early and spending hours in prayer and Bible study before the household stirred. We were taught Scriptures, learned how to pray, were faithful to church and in the ministries of the church. Most folks at church probably were not that disciplined. So, spiritually, we were doing well if compared.

My parent’s marriage was in tact and they were both proactive at keeping it that way. Our home was whole. Again, compared to most folk at our small church, that was doing pretty good.

We were all healthy kids. There were no birth problems. We ate healthy. We spent hours playing outside. My parents were also very fit and healthy. For many of our church family, that was not the case due to poor eating, age, and other conditions.

So by all physical standards, were doing well. And because our circumstances looked good to others, why would anyone need to ask my mother how she was doing? Of course she was fine.

Sadly, our family’s success blinded our church family to the fact that we might have needs. My parents left that church when I was about 12. Although we attended a church until all the children in the family had graduated from college. My parents never latched on to church again.

Today, I wonder if part of the cause of my parent’s lack of finding a church family might be traced back to their years of lack of connection to a body of believers who saw their circumstances and not their souls.

Time has taught me that NO ONE is OK. We all have hurts, struggles, hard days. We all need to be inspired and encouraged to grow in our faith. We all need the prayers of others.

Questions for pondering:

Ministry is stifled so often by seeing the physical and not soul of a person.

How many needs are missed? How many souls are lost? How many people are in bondage to repetitive sins in their lives because they simply do not have another soul in their life who cares?

Am I not guilty of seeing the circumastances of a person before their soul?

How often a person’s circumstance blinds me from seeing the cries of her heart?

Do I fail to build connections with certain believers because they intimidate me?

Or because I think we have nothing in common?

Do I tend to travel circles with those I am most comfortable being with?

Do I attempt to connect with people who are very different from myself in age, status, politics, health, culture, or depth of faith?

As I ponder, my heart aches as I think of my Father. He may be yet a lot soul. I have no certainty of his salvation at this point. Would things be different in his soul if he had not been seen as “having it together” in his earlier days? I am left to wonder.

Those in need are not just the obviously destitute. We truly must blind ourselves to the physical circumstances and appearances of others in order to hear them, care about them, and minister to the needs of their souls. It isn’t a natural occurrence either, but must be purposed.

When I started my home with my husband, the Lord put it into my heart to minister without blindness to the souls whatever soul the Lord put on my heart. All are broken. That is how my Savior sees them. So that is how I must see them as well.

I have given aid to dear folks on the street to the happy families of means and found the more invested I became in those lives, the more similar they all were. Putting blinders on to the physical has allowed me to see that all souls are full of needs, sins, and troubles.

One does not have to be well versed in Scripture, wealthy, or qualified in any way to reach out in kindness to someone. I do not have to be a pastor’s wife to send a note of encouragement and some cookies to a pastor’s wife. I do not have to be wealthy to take a meal to a family who could easily afford to order in. I do no have to be a working mom, or even smart, to ask a businesswoman in our church how her week is going. I do not have to have a happy home to bless a family with flowers for their new baby. I do not have to be perfectly well, or even young to reach out with regular conversations to encourage a newly married young woman.

How many neglected heart’s are out there, untouched because we cannot see past a person’s good circumstances and into the soul. We truly blind ourselves to circumstances and look deeper into each dear soul with whom we are connected.

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For the Keeping of Christmas

Every year, I find myself re-evaluating how are family practices the Advent season. One might say I am on a mission to make it a deeper and more meaningful celebration each year. I am vigilant to see that the reason we celebrate this season does not get misplaced among the wrapping paper, Christmas cards, and cookies.

Materialism is a struggle for most Christians in the United States. We all are considered “rich” by much of the world’s population. Yet, in our minds, we are not, as we barely make ends meet each month, drowning in puddles of debt and desire.

Other than income tax returns, Christmas can be one of the most materialistic events of the year. I do not want my children to love Christmas because of what toy they are hoping to own by the end of the day. Priceless, eternal moments will be forever lost if that becomes the case.

I want our celebration of this Advent season to be a process of traditions that set our hearts to praise to our Father and stand in awe at the incarnation of our Savior. Our omnipotent God putting Himself in a human body! What an event worth a grand celebration by all of us who partake of the extreme grace that brought Him here!

I deeply embrace celebrating Christmas because of what that moment in time signifies to us under the law of grace. I do desire it to be an exciting and anticipated season in my life and in the lives of my family! I want it to be a time we set aside to reflect and rejoice. Our King has come to earth! It is certainly no small deal.

I am further motivated in my resolve to magnify this season by creating pointed traditions and practices as I study Scripture. Leviticus 23 has been particularly inspirational to me this year. Leviticus describes in detail feasts and sacred days ordained long ago by God for His people.

Feasting is a Biblical form of remembrance and worship: Leviticus 23 describes seven holy seasons that the Israelites were to keep. God wanted them to set aside those specific days or even weeks to reflect on Him in a certain way.

The first sacred day listed in Leviticus 23 is the Sabbath. The second, is Passover. There is also the Feast of Firstfruits, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. Other days have been added to the Jewish holidays since then, such as Purim as a result of Esther’s faith.

Each one of those sacred days is for a multi-faceted purpose. First, there is a human need to holding sacred days as part of building and proclaiming our faith. Days to celebrate important events in our faith helps us, ever so forgetful souls, to remember the God we worship as we spend time in celebrating a specific aspect of Him, such as God the Creator, God the Redeemer, or God the Provider.

Second, holy days mark ones faith not only to his or her own heart, but serves as a testimony to other’s of the faith held true. As Christians, our holy days are especially sweet guideposts as we celebrate events that are valuable to our faith-in particular the gospel, those set-apart days remind us of the unearthly kingdom of which we partake. How beautifully days such as Christmas proclaim that our kingdom is of another realm and the events that mark that realm supersede the world we dwell in now.

Third, Holy days help us to spend time to ponder and focus on different aspects of God. For instance, in our celebration of His incarnation we are reminded of the value of the gospel and the longing for its coming. Our hearts are also brought into worship of God as we amaze our souls with specific aspects of His grace.

Fourth, there is an amazing connection many of those ancient feasts have to the gospel. The Passover is incredible illustration. Jewish people have had the gospel plugged into their calendars since they left Egypt! Every holy-day we celebrate as Christians is pertinent to the gospel. At Christmas, we can revel in the fact that the gospel has come. Good Friday and Easter bring us to rejoice in the precious blood that covers us.

Traditions are a Biblical form of remembrance and worship: Back in Leviticus, it is clear that many specific traditions are given by God for the celebration of each feast. Often “rest” is noted as part of the feast. Specific foods are also required at each feast. Offerings are seem to be a regular part of the festivities as well. The feast days were meant to be different than other days, they are special…set apart…holy.

Traditions have long been a part of Jewish culture, but tradition is a very simple way for us humans to celebrate on purpose and with order. Traditions help guide us into faithfulness. They are not evil, despite the bad rapport they get of causing us to become mindless to what is important as we thoughtlessly go through motions. Traditions of faith actually have the opposite effect, if in fact, there is yet a heartbeat within a soul.

Our church celebrates the Lord’s supper every time we meet for worship. It is a tradition. Yes, it can be said that the frequency of sharing the Lord’s supper weekly can make it mundane and common instead of the sweet and savored moment it is. But truly, traditions that relate to ones faith can only be taken for granted if the heart of a person has already become neutral to it. The tradition is not at fault for a person’s lack of heart. Truly if a soul is filled with praise and love of God, such a tradition as the Lord’s supper is never in danger of becoming dull, but will be met with depth of heart and worship week after week.

Traditions are essential to the upkeep of our faith and can be pointedly powerful to stir our hearts in worship to God for the Great things He has done! Traditions are not a man made part of life and celebrations, but a God ordained necessity to the thriving of our souls and purposeful exultation of God.

Christ’s Birth is a major Biblical Event well worth our time to Celebrate. A previous post, Reclaiming Christmas, discusses more in depth with reflections on the book of Luke. Christmas is an incredible joyous event. And like little unborn John, we ought to leap as our souls ponder the incarnation of God.

Most Christians are not of Jewish blood and do not hold to the Jewish calendar of feasts. IN fact other than the Lord’s supper, very few traditions of the Christian faith are held. Even Christmas is often kept more as a family holiday that a sacred holy day.

As I find myself in growing awe of the grace poured out on my soul. I have been challenged year after year that the celebration of Christmas in our home should be more of a sacred event than a holiday filled with empty traditions. I am learning how to use the foods we eat, the gifts we give, the fellowship we hold, and the rest we have as an act of worship and rejoicing. I also seek to add wonderful advent readings and traditions year after year.

Christ’s incarnation is certainly an event we should purpose to celebrate daily, and even as a season we set aside to build MEANINGFUL traditions that could include worship in songs, Scripture readings, candles, advent calendars, rest from regular work, special foods and offerings and gifts as a celebration of our fullness of what He has done.

As a caution if indeed my intent is to set aside the Christmas season solely as a holy celebration of our King’s coming to earth, then I should most certainly prune out any pagan aspect of the sacred day we are creating. Nothing could downplay or be contradictory to our celebration of Christ’s birth, than if I should combine our celebration with gospel contradicting, worldly traditions such as, yes I am naming one, Santa. Certainly the Israelite nation would have destroyed the depth of meaning of their sacred feasts if they chose to include traditions of the pagan people around them. I cannot assume I can keep a day sacred and blend it with elements contrary to the gospel I hold so dearly.

How I strive to build an intentional traditions for the celebration of the sacred event in time I have chosen to celebrate. Such tools as food, gifts, rest, fellowship, song, and traditions can be pointed arrows to hold my heart and the hearts of those within my circle in awe of what God has done. The end purpose being to aid souls in deeper worship of our Savior.

Christmas is after all, essentially, an incredible celebration of the coming of the gospel! Rejoice!

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” Mt. 1:21.

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To be Nurtured is to be Known

Early May, I drilled holes in the bottom of a dozen plastic buckets I had picked up from the dollar store.

I placed a few large rocks in the bottom of each container, and filled the rest with potting soil from a bag. In each pot, I planted a tomato seedling. I watered the plants and placed them along the fence outside to grow.

I faithfully cared for my tomato plants, picked off suckers and crawling pests. The plants grew tall and leafy.

Early summer brought blossoms. But the blossoms drooped and fell off without producing fruit.

My fears were realized, the beautiful big trees all over our yard were the culprit. My tomato plants were not getting enough sun to produce fruit. I began moving the plants from place to place throughout the yard in the hope of catching enough sun. No matter where they were placed, the plants were lucky to get two hours of full sun each day. That was simply not enough to produce fruit.

A month ago, after seeing my gardening friends wrapping up their tomato season, I made a final effort to see fruit.

I moved all my plants into our shady sun-room. I popped in couple red LED lights. I added magnesium to the soil and waited to see blossoms appear.

My past experiences with growing plants and gardening has done little to give me any confidence in my gardening abilities.

I admit I am an experimental gardener.  I am not good at growing things and keeping them alive. But I do enjoy the journey of trying to grow things, even if I fail in my endeavor.

Most plants require the same basic care. Nutrients, protection from the elements, disease, and pests, pruning, water, sun, and securing of the stems are essential elements for the care of a tomato plant. Growing a fruiting tomato plant is all about nurturing.

I love the meaning of the word “nurture.” It is far more than providing for needs. Nurture implys a depth of attentiveness, an attention to detail, and forthought. Nurturing is providing every essential need to bring about flourishing.

Nurture also includes the notion of being known before care is given. I cannot expect my tomato plants to produce anything if I do not know enough about them to foresee the needs they have.

The term “nurture.” is a very biblical term. Nurturing relationships pepper Scripture. Nurturing is essential to a wide assortment of relationships such as a husband and wife, parents and children, fellow Christians and even  strangers.

Nothing is so beautiful to me as the nurturing God does for my soul. Psalm 23 comes into my minds as a step by step example of the Lord nurturing His beloved sheep.

The Shepherd knows His sheep so well He can forsee their every concern. Not only does the Shepherd tend the sheep in the moment, but He prepares for the moments ahead by eliminating dangers and making provisions for the future needs of those sheep in His care.

Our heavenly Father wants to see the souls of all who belong to Him not only live, but thrive and bear much fruit.

In John 15, the husbandman tends to the vine in a nurturing way by of pruning in the right season. That is about where I am with my tomatoes. A summer labor and barren yet, flourishing tomato vines grace the corners of my sun-room as October begins. It is time for some plant purging. If one wants to see fruit, sometimes hard steps must be taken. It is all part of the nurturing process.

He tends ever so carefully to our every need, with the goal of the fruit we will bear as a result of His provision of nourishment, pruning, blessing of daily essentials, and protection.

Oh how nurtured I am by my heavenly Father. He knows and loves me. He wants not only what is best for my care, but what is best for my flourishing, flowering, and fruit bearing.

My Father provides everything I need. There is so much peace in God’s soverign work in every detail of my life.

I know that I am growing in the exact environment that is best. I have been given the perfect amount of provisions for my daily needs. No part of of my life is luck or chance.

I am meticulously nurtured in every aspect of my life by my all-knowing, loving Father…for eternity.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts. PSALM 103:113-18

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Beautiful Roasted Vegetables and Beans

1 chopped sweet pepper

1 chopped tomato

1/2 chopped onion

6 cloves pealed garlic

1 chopped cucumber

Fresh Kale leaves-several handfuls

1/2 can black beans-drained

Course salt and pepper

Dried garlic granules

A few tablespoons of Olive oil

Reduced balsamic vinigar (balsamic vinigar that has been boiled for 5 min)

1) Heat the oven to 450

2) Chop and toss the tomato and vegetables (except black beans) on a large flat tray.

3) Spinkle the veggies with garlic granules, salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.

4) After 20 minutes of roasting in the oven, add the black beans into the mix and give a slight stir.

5) After 10 minutes, remove vegetables from oven and cool about 10 minutes.

6) Drizzle veggies with the reduced balsamic and enjoy!

Roasting vegetables is an excellent way to preserve the nutrients since their is no leaching of vitamins into the water.

Roasting also brings out the flavor of the veggies. And they are so beautiful in rich colors. They aquire a nutty flavor which is a personal favorite.

Throwing in a protien like beans, meat, fish, or quinoa can make roasted vegetables into a complete meal.

Almost any vegetable can be roasted. And multititude of seasonings can be added for flavor. For example, roasted sweet potatoes with nutmeg and butter are great for autumn. Handfuls of kale with olive oil and salt is also delicious. Cubed red potatoes with olive oil, rosemary and salt is my husband’s favorite roasted vegetable.

Enjoying the season’s varieties of vegetables is a flavorful adventure.

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Sweet Spoonfuls of Injustice

The little one is in bed napping, the older girls are busying themselves with activities for quiet time. I grabbed a small quart of chocoalte ice cream from the freezer…mommy gets a treat this afternoon!

One by one, each of my daughters caught me, asking for a spoon of ice cream. When told that they could not have any, I was met with the response, “But that is not fair!”

I could have answered by reminding my children of the cookie they had enjoyed after lunch. Or told them that the ice cream was too expensive to share. I could have laid out for them the events of my day…all the work I had done and how I was entitled to a few spoons of chocolate ice-cream. I have given such reasonable responses to my children in the past, but today, that is not what poured from my lips.

Today my heart felt it was time to plant a perspective in my children’s’ hearts, that the Lord had been working out in my own heart. “

“Honey, It is okay. It is okay that things are not fair. And you know what? you can be okay that mommy can have ice cream and you cannot.”

They left in thought. There was no planned come-back for that idea.

I want my children to know that feeling injustice is not only normal, but it is okay. I think my eldest daughter might have even pondered further as to why it might be okay for mommy to have a bit of ice cream and why it was okay that she did not get any ice-cream. Perhaps she came up with some very sensible reasons herself.

I know that accepting injustice in our equal and fair driven society is very much a foreign thought. Our culture idolizes fairness.

From a very little age, children play games in which everybody wins. Equal treatment is expected, and when not given, demanded. Teenagers spend hours arguing with parents about what is fair in having a cell phone, dating, curfews, what to wear, or driving privileges. Our perspective of justice is based upon what is perceived as “the norm.” Being forced to live outside that box of “norm” is injustice.

But looking into Scripture, this is where we Christians must divide with our culture. Our fight for personal equality and justice takes on a different meaning in the light of the gospel.

1. We know that fairness will never exist in this fallen world. Indeed, we can make strides for equality; for justice, but it will never be attained.

Because of the sinful nature of man equality is not able to be obtained and someone in must give up his or her own justice in order to bring peace. Our earthly form of justice often is more of a win/loose situation than win/win. And how familiar we are with how justice for one person intrudes upon the justice of another!

What a mother deems fair in an unwanted pregnancy takes away what is fair and just for an unborn baby.

What one parent may say is fair in a divorce, robs the other parent from being with his or her child. And what about what is just and fair for the child who rarely has a choice in the matter…

What one hard-working person may say is fair in a promotion is unfair to another co-worker who is equally qualified.

In truth, we all want to be treated well and we want what we see as best. Fairness is the word we often utilize to get what we feel is best for ourselves. Because of our self-loving, sinful natures, fairness, equality, and justice are completely perverted.

I have a haunch, if it were even possible to live in a world that was impeccably just in every way, we would still cry out from our own perceptions…”That is not fair!”

“Liberty and justice for all,” is truly a worthy goal, but we must learn to be at peace, that until the Christ comes to rule this world, such a goal cannot be attained, only striven for.

2. For Christians, the gospel is priority. It is so easy for everything to seem more important than what is most important. I have been at fault for getting caught in a noble cause and completly neglecting the power of the gospel.

Only the gospel has the power to change the world.

When Christ came to earth, the Roman empire was in rule over many nations, including the Jewish people. The Jewish people in Christ’s day longed for their Messiah to come and set them free from the unjust rule of the Roman Empire.

To the Jews surprise, their Messiah did not come to set them free from Roman rule. Christ’s purpose was not a temporary one, but an eternal. Christ did not come to set human captives free from their masters, but to set the souls of men free from the captivity of sin!

How, we in our day, fail to grasp the horrors that the captivity of sin brings to the human soul! It is truly the worst plight of humanity.

Man’s inability to fulfill his created purpose to bring God glory in a relationship with his Creator is a far greater desperation to all injustices among mankind. In fact, it is even the cause of all the troubles of the world.

Trying to bring change to the world apart from the gospel is like slapping a bandage over a spreading Melanoma. The skin problem can look like it is non-exsistent, but it is far from being cured until it is killed to the very root.

Yes, we ought to fight for what is biblically right. Every bearer of God’s image must be treated with sacred dignity. But we gravely fail in our quest for righteousness if we strive to bring change apart from the gospel. So as we walk about in this dark, unfair world, we, who believe in the redemption brought about on the cross are under every obligation to share it with our fellowman.

3. Our idea of what is just and fair is not same God’s, because our perspective is not the same as God’s. My warped, self-focused heart is tempted to put God into my little box of “my view”, instead of seeing Him as Scripture describes as utterly sovereign, holy, and in complete authority. Even in the choosing of those He would and would not redeem. How dare I think that my code of fairness is better than God’s!

Praise my Redeemer! HE DOES NOT BOW DOWN TO MY VIEW OF JUSTICE!

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” I Peter 3:18

My heart was once against God. It could do nothing righteous. Even the little goodness I thought I did, was disgusting in comparison to the absolute perfection of my Creator. My path was my own, not God’s. I could pretend it looked like God’s but it was a false identity.

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” Is. 64:6

As a result of putting myself on the throne of my life, the God who made all things-Who put each atom together with a word-had every right to obliterate me.

In fact, He has every right to consume all His self-worshiping creation. That would be completely fair…completely just. Governments in our world are completely understood in their prerogative to destroy anyone who dares usurp rule over them or attempt to harm to their kingdom in any way.

What did God, the Creator-King of all mankind do? He made a way for me, to be in sweet, blessed communion with Him. I can come to Him, without fear, to the very throne room. How did He do that? By exchanging the place of where I should be with His Son. So instead of destroying me, punishing me, and condemning my life and soul to eternal destruction. He destroyed His only, absolutely perfect Son. He condemned His Son. His Son is the One who was forsaken. Christ experienced all the worst of God’s wrath, for me.

NOW THAT IS THE GREATEST INJUSTICE-that is the gospel.

Tears fill my eyes at this thought.

My sinful, rebellious heart deserves nothing but God’s wrath. I deserve death. I deserve to eternally waste in hell. I deserve every miserable thing in life.

But that is not what I have been given. I have been given mercy. I have been given grace. I have been given forgiveness. I have been given an eternal inheritance in the very kingdom I once despised.

And yes, to my dear children, it is completely unfair that I should enjoy even a spoonful of ice-cream.

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
    Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8

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Pesto Dressed Chicken Salad

Salad:

1 bunch chopped green onions

2 stalks chopped celery

1 chopped tomato

2 small chopped cucumbers

A handful baby kale

Pesto:

2 cloves of garlic

1/ olive oil

3/4 cup parmesian

2 cups fresh basil or basil and parsley mix

1) chop and miz veggies and chicken together

2) Blend or food prosess pesto ingredients

3) Mix the salad and pesto-add parmesian to garnish if desired.

When I was a little girl, I fell in love with my mother’s pesto. It was bursting with flavor and nutrients. As most childhood foods, I forgot about it until a recent visit to my mothers and tasting her pesto again.

Home-made pesto is totally different from what can be purchased from a store.

And pesto gives a punch of herbal garlic to far more than pasta. Like the wonderful dressing it becomes in place of traditional mayonaise in this chicken salad.

Pesto can made up and kept un the refrigerator to be used as needed on veggies, chicken, or yes, of course, pasta.

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Scrambled Egg and Zucchini Bowl

Ingredients:

2 eggs (my protien)

1 cup zuccini noodles (veggies)

2 T. Coconut Oil (healthy fat)

1 T. Nutritional yeast (seasoning and nutrition)

1 T. Garlic- dried granuals (seasoning and nutrition)

Salt and pepper-to taste (seasoning)

Papprika (garnish and seasoning)

1. Heat oil slightly and add zuccini and seasonings

2. Saute zuccini a few minutes and drop in eggs-scramble together until eggs are done

3. Scoop into bowl and dash with paprika.

Enjoy hot!

There are many good reasons to eat a savory, veggie laden breakfast. For me, it is simply a good way to increase my nutrient intake as well as provide blood sugar stable energy for my morning.

As I have posted earlier, I make a lot of bowls for meals. Breakfast is no different, but my protien is usually a couple eggs…sometimes cooked salmon (yes, I am one of those people).

This breakfast style bowl is so versatile. A few slivered almonds or sesamee seeds…yellow squash along with the zuccini noodles, a chopped fresh tomato…too fun to experiment! I recently posted a template for creating meal bowls. It could be helpful as well.

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How to Make a Meal Bowl

I make a warm bowl of veggies and protein for about 90% of my breakfast or lunch meals. Honestly, each bowl is different and yet, every one I have made is delicious!

I often eat a hot bowl of food because it is easy for me to add a large quantity and variety of vegetables to my protein. It is also a lot faster to eat a bowl of cooked food than a salad. For a woman on the go lie me, time is important. Besides, if I am going to cook up a protein like eggs or meat, why not throw on veggies and cook them all together?

It occurred to me that there are basic principles I apply each time I make a bowl lunch and that information may be helpful to others who are trying to pack nutrients into their daily eating routine.

Basically, a meal bowl is a form of cooked salad, so if a person can make a salad with ingredients from the fridge, there is little thought in cooking up those ingredients with a few seasonings.

I do not plan what I am going to eat in each bowl I build. I open my fridge and decide what to do in the moment.

1. Choose a protein. It can be leftover cooked chicken or beef, eggs, uncooked meat, fish-raw or cooked, canned meat like tuna or sardines. Protein can also be found in nuts, cheese, peanuts, seeds, beans, or quinoa.

2. Once the protein is decided, pull out veggies that need to be used or will work well with that particular protein. I always keep a huge container of spinach in my fridge. It works with everything and is very nutrient rich. Okra, zucchini, cucumber, and tomatoes are also some of my favorite veggies to keep on hand. I also always keep garlic and onions, celery and carrots. I love peppers, but find they are not as versatile as many of the other vegetables due to their strong flavor. A lot of veggies are used in a bowl. I can pack 2-3 times the veggies in a bowl compared to fresh cut vegetables. For instance 3 handfuls of spinach melts down to half a cup of cooked spinach; a whole onion cooks down to a mild 1/4 cup of flavor. I can eat an entire cubed cucumber if it is sauted, vs. a few pieces chopped on a salad. So cut up entire vegetables for this dish.

3. Pick a fat to cook. The kind of fat should coincide with the flavor profile you feel like creating. For instance, if I am going to make an Asian bowl, I would choose sesame oil. For Italian or Greek…a strong olive oil would be appropriate. For beginners…a couple tablespoons of butter is easiest to blend and butter simply makes everything taste good!

4. The final step is to choose the seasonings. Garlic always ends up in my bowls, either in its fresh chopped state or dried and powdered. Again, choose seasonings that will create the flavor profile you are craving. For again, ginger, soy sauce, and garlic are great. For Mexican, cumin and red pepper with a bit of oregano work well. For an Italian flair use oregano, basil, parsley, and thyme with lots of garlic. For starters, garlic is sufficient. I like to toast fresh garlic in my butter to give it a nice crunch.

5. After the oil is heated cook up the protein if needed. If your protein is pre-cooked it can be tossed in just after the veggies are cooked. Nuts and seeds can be toasted at this point if desired. Once the proteins and nuts are cooked, they can be removed.

6. Cook up the vegetables in the same pan. More oil or butter can be added if it is needed. The vegetables should be cooked one layer at a time, starting with the vegetables that are the most firm like carrots and progressively added to the tenderest vegetables. Leafy vegetables like spinach should be tossed in last and cooked very briefly.

7. Dump the veggies and proteins together in a bowl and either layer them or mix them together. At this point any uncooked ingredients can be added like fresh avocado, fresh tomato, shredded Parmesan, olives, or toasted sesame seeds.

8. Vegetable bowls can also be layered with steamed brown rice or quinoa for a punch of a healthy grain. For breakfast, I will mix up my vegetable bowl and throw a fried egg on top. Easy and nutritious.

9. Don’t forget to add salt. I simply sprinkle it on after the food is cooked and before I plate it.

10. Have fun being creative and enjoy the healthy hot bowls of food you can churn out of your kitchen.

Check out some bowl recipes for inspiration too!

Scrambled Egg and Zuccini Bowl

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Something Beautiful in a Broken World

Photo by Mario A. Villeda on Pexels.com

 As I look at the current events in our world, my innards ache. This hurts.The moment the created rebelled against the Creator by making mankind himself his own god, the earth began to feel the pain, today, thousands of years after its creation, the world’s contractions bring pains harder and closer together as it waits for renewal.I would like to say earth is in a worse state than it has ever been in history, but I must remind myself that when the earth was only a thousand years old, the entire animal and human populations, except for one family of each, was completely wiped out by a flood because humanity had become so vile.Not even a hundred years ago, our world experienced one of the most horrific events of racism ever known. Over six million Jewish people…men, women, and children were slaughtered. Like many others today, we still shudder with horror at the thought of what occurred. Could that many people have really been killed? Could humanity be that terrible? Horrible wars, plagues, slavery, and violence have been the course of earth since that day humanity brought the curse of sin upon all creation. If we know anything, history has yet to be a teacher to the human race, but history is most certainly the revealer of our true human nature. It is not good. In fact it is desperately wicked.Yes, we are that terrible. And so blind to ourselves that we did not learn from that point in history. This year, there is more unveiling of the injustice and cruelty of which humankind is capable. We are also getting to experience anger and expressions of long harbored bitterness as it pours out of broken people. People’s hearts are hurting them. The souls of the human race are damaged, wounded, and trapped in despair.And then, through these dark thoughts, something is there, waiting, giving time for healing, it is gentle, patient, and sustains the soul. It’s rays burst through the window of any heart’s dungeon. GRACE–it pours into the darkest corner and illuminates the darkened soul. However deep a person can go, grace is already there. No matter how damaged a heart is, grace can heal. However long it takes for repair, grace is waiting. The world can change. People can be whole. Souls can be healed. There can be peace on earth..true peace that comes from a heart drenched in grace. Racism, murder, injustice, slavery, imprisonment, and all the pains of will end.Grace is so beautiful. We as a human race have done nothing to earn grace. We are a mess. This world doesn’t deserve one ounce of grace. We deserve to be left to our own demise, which if allowed would have led to the extinction of humanity thousands of years ago.Instead of getting what we deserve,GRACE reaches down,waits, and          ever so gently,ever so kindly;         So full of a deep compassion,GRACE pleads with us to repent.“He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities” Psalm 103:10.Grace brings us God entering into a body like ours made of perishable dust. Grace brings us God, setting aside the dwelling of which He is worthy, and being wrapped in swaddling clothes and sleeping in a barn. Grace is God, walking among men, homeless, sleepless, hungry, and physically spent as brought understanding of a kingdom far greater than the broken one on earth that humanity keeps trying to mend in all the wrong ways. Grace is God, perfect, holy, and unapproachable by man, being torn apart and killed by the very people He created. Grace is God, using his own blood to make a way for us to repent and find forgiveness with Himself. Grace is God giving us Himself the only perfect, whole, and unimaginable being to bring wholeness and healing to our souls. Grace brings us the gospel. Healing, restoration, peace…All the pains we endure in this cursed earth have been carried, born. It is all ON HIM. And the tears flow from my eyes freely as I realize my own brokenness and the grace poured out on my soul. 

“Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53: 4-6.

Sin abounds. Indeed we are a shameful mess. We see the mess in the news. We see the mess in our governments. We see the mess on the streets. We see the mess in our homes. We see the mess in our churches. We see the mess in our very own souls. Sin abounds…yes…But grace abounds more.“For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:18-21And I realize it is I who have been in error. All this time, I have been hopeful that things would get better, that healing would come to our people. I find myself frustrated and continually surprised when things seem to get only worse and worse. But I must ask myself, why does any sin surprise me? Why do I feel taken aback? Speechless…? Did I really expect better from people so damaged by sin? Why does it startle me when the hatred the human race has for each other continues from generation to generation? Why am stunned by what people say about each other? Why does it astonish me to see the throbbing pain we humans inflict on other humans? This is human nature is it not? Are not the souls of all humanity broken? Why does sin and the pain it brings continue to shock me?What should stagger me is that the Creator, who made this world beautiful and perfect, allows it to continue in its unraveled state. What should amaze me is that despite our abounding sins, God withholds judgment. Despite our inclination to be our own god, the God who made us, lets us exist. Despite our ignorance and misunderstanding of who God is, we breath in and out. Despite all we are, God waits…giving us time to change, to repent, to come to Him for complete restoration and healing. This is grace. Grace is God’s gift to us. We are unworthy of all grace brings, but it brings it anyway. Sin should never shock us. We should expect sin. We are, after all, sinners. It is God’s grace that should shock us. His grace should so utterly amaze us that our hearts live in the glow of our complete awe of Him. 

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Power Creamer

I don’t know why I never thought of this sooner, but instead of making a healthy morning cup of joe by hand, why not pre-mix my own ingredients for a creamer? I couldn’t be more happy with the results. The flavor is good and the price is better than purchasing an MCT specialty creamer.

For those of you who have not heard of bullet- proof coffee, it is coffee boosted with collagen, MCT oil, and very often blended with a dab of butter. I absolutely love a few tablespoons of heavy whipping cream and nothing else in my coffee, however, to increase the nutrients of that first cup of coffee each morning I had started to add collagen, whey protein powder, MCT oil, and sunflower lecithin, then I added my heavy cream and blended it. Healthy and delicious, yes, but a the morning routine was not simple. It involved opening various cupboards and bags and measuring and blending… let’s just say, it often was easier to skip the nutrients; pour in cow’s cream and go.

For a time, I purchased MCT creamers. They are so expensive! And the ones I liked were not readily available either. So if the specialty creamer wasn’t on budget or available, back to the cream I would go.

So I began experimenting. My first batch tasted off after three days. But, finally I got a mixture I am happy with and it holds up well. And it is good!

Ingredients:

3 cups unsweetened almond milk (vanilla or plain)

6 Tablespoons MCT oil

1/4 cup collagen powder

1/4 t. sunflower lecithin (optional-this is good for the brain, and also helps keep ingredients mixed. A good shake will also do without adding this)

For those who like a sweet creamer: 1/8 t. stevia

 

  1. Blend ingredients together (I use a stick blender, but a mixer or blender would also do)
  2. Pour creamer into a large mason jar, screw on lid, and pop in the fridge
  3. Pour desired amount into coffee and enjoy.