Winding Down and Gearing Up

The last couple of days have been really good.  I’ve had the feeling of both winding down our food fast month, and beginning to gear up for the next month of fasting focused on clothing and outward appearance.  I had my first meal out for the month with my friend, Cheryl, yesterday.  Fortunately, the place we chose served breakfast-y choices all day, so ordering was easy:  scrambled eggs, a few thin slices of ham, and a dish of applesauce with water to wash it all down.  There were no funny looks from the waitress, just business as usual.

I also made my seventh and final trip to the grocery store for the month last night, with Tasha in tow and almost no begging!  We made quick work of our shopping list, stopped at Target for a new pair of gym shoes for Tasha and a few other things that were on our list before we got into the store.  I realized a couple of days ago that because of the limitations we put on our food shopping, I have significantly cut down on those impulse purchases that add up, both in the grocery store and other places.  We stopped a few mornings ago to pick up a cup of coffee for a friend, and I realized it was the first cash I had spent all month long (except for our steamed milk date a few weeks ago).  This is absolutely unprecedented behavior for me.  And it is exciting to have trod on new behavioral ground.

I can feel my mind shifting forward now in anticipation of our next month’s adventures.  Cheryl and I talked over lunch about a particular niggling point in my mind on the clothing thing:  what if one of my two pairs of socks gets a hole?  When it comes to socks, I don’t really buy quality – I buy quantity and cheap.  Cheryl wisely and practically suggested that I allow for a change out of socks if one of them pops a hole in it.  Clearly we have enough socks in the house to allow for that.  (For the back story on socks, read this post, if you haven’t already.)  This is why it’s good to have friends supporting you through this process.

I have a few practical objectives that I still want to accomplish this week:  cleaning out and organizing our kitchen draws and agreeing on a dinner/dishes rotation to get everyone involved in the prep and cleanup.  Tom is a great advocate for me in this because he’s always reminding me that I need to ask for help rather than doing it myself.  I often choose the I’ll-just-do-it route for the sake of either expediency or {sometimes, to be honest} martyrdom.   

Lastly, I plan to organize a cereal drive for a ministry, Simpson Housing Services, to have the kids rally around.  Watch for another post on that in the next 24 hours if you have an interest in participating.

Though I’m looking forward to the challenges, learnings, and blessings of the next month, I continue to intentionally open my heart to everything God has planned for us for the duration of these four weeks of our food fast.  Thy will…not mine…be done.