Beware the Yeast

I didn’t start this post with sourdough in mind, but I just got done fretting over the sourdough starter I put together yesterday. It’s not acting very lively, and I’m afraid the cold snap and our drafty windows have something to do with it.

Anyway, what I did have in mind this morning was a story fro Mark 8. I was struck by this story in a new way this morning. Allow me the liberty of retelling this ridiculous, and yet telling, story for you:

Setting: Jesus has been teaching 4,000 men and their families for three long days. Thinking about how hungry they must all be and how they still have a long journey home ahead of them, Jesus produces enough food for the people plus an additional seven basketfuls of food out of seven loaves of bread and a few fish. He sends the people on their way and he and his disciples travel by boat to the region of Dalmanutha.

Upon arriving in Dalmanutha, a group of Pharisees swarm around Jesus.

“I don’t think you’re really the Messiah who was to come,” one of them sneers at Jesus. “If you really are what you say you are, send a sign from heaven.”

The other Pharisees nod in agreement, snickering to each other.

Jesus sighs wearily and says, more to himself than to the Pharisees, “Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? Well, I tell you what, they are just going to be disappointed. Let’s go,” he says, turning to his disciples.

They climb back into the boat and cross again.

“Shoot.” James looks at Peter. “We forgot bread. There’s one loaf here…” he pulls a stale loaf out of a cloth bag in a corner of the boat.

The disciples all stare at the loaf longingly. Andrew’s stomach begins to growl.

“Be careful.” Jesus interrupts their contemplation of the bread. He’s watching them carefully, and he glances once at the loaf James is holding. “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. And that of Herod.”

James looks at the hard loaf of bread in his hands.

“What’s he mean?” John asks.

Peter takes the loaf of bread from James and turns it over, thoughtfully. “Did we get this from the same place that the Pharisees buy their bread? Or did someone make it for us?”

A few disciples shrug. No one says anything.

“Well, if no one knows whether this came from the same shop that the Pharisees buy bread at, how can we eat it?” Peter growls angrily. He darts glances at each of the disciples in turn. Suddenly, he pulls his arm back and hurls the loaf of bread into the sea. It makes a small splash and then bobbles on the top of the water, a small lump in the distance.

James sighs and rubs his stomach. “Well, I guess we don’t have to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees now, with that loaf gone. Now we have no bread.”

Jesus had been staring off toward land, not participating in the conversation. Now he turned to the disciples. “Why are you still talking about having no bread? Did anything I just said have to do with bread? Moreover, are you really afraid of starving to death? With me? Have you seen nothing I’ve done?” Jesus is obviously exasperated, his expression almost pained.

Philip raises his eyebrows and mutters to Thaddaeus, “What’s eating him? I didn’t think he got so crabby when he was hungry.”

“Don’t you remember? Just a few weeks ago, when I broke up the five loaves for the five thousand men and their families, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Twelve!” John says, confidently.

“Yes…” Jesus says slowly, coaxingly. “And yesterday. When I broke up the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

“Oh! Seven!” Peter shouts with a smile.

“Exactly.” Jesus stares hard at Peter, like the matter is decided. He meets the eyes of each disciple, and then he turns his eyes out of the boat and toward the shore.

A few minutes pass, and the disciples wait, watching Jesus.

“I’m still hungry,” James whispers to Philip.

“Me too. But we need to be careful when we land not to buy the same bread that the Pharisees buy,” Philip whispers back, urgently.

A few disciples nod their agreement.

Jesus sighs and shakes his head, still looking toward shore. As the disciples look at him and then at each other, Jesus murmurs, “Do you still not understand?”

Thanks for indulging my reflection on Mark 8. Maybe that was helpful to you too, but I have a sneaking suspicion that re-write was more for me than for anyone. How often does God show his faithfulness to me, show me what he can and will do on my behalf, and I still don’t understand?

To be honest, very often. Every time I’m confronted with a new challenge (really, any change to the tried and true security of my routine and way of life) I balk and question how it will work, how we’ll make ends meet. And I ask, how, how, how? But God is faithful. Jesus Christ is who he says he is. He can do what he says he can do. And he loves us the way he says he does. God is trustworthy.

Recent Life in Pictures (and a few words)

Recent life has been busy. Very busy. Amid all the busyness, though, life moves along. Here are some pictures and commentary from recent life:

This is our third Christmas together. Instead of taking time to decorate the three together as we have done for the past two years, I worked on some sort of organizational project while Mark set up the tree and put lights and tinsel on it. Then while he worked on something (maybe food-related?), I put ornaments on the tree. So, instead of a nicely planned picture in front of the tree this year, we have the picture below, which is more in the spirit of, “Oh, we should probably document this with a photo or something.”

 

We’ve been trying new recipes as a result of our sugar detox, or sugar fast, or whatever you might want to call it. One of the new recipes we tried is a Spaghetti Squash Lasagna, recipe found here. This was my first time using spaghetti squash, and it secured my affection. The lasagna was quite good too. This picture, of it in a left-over container, about a week after we made it, doesn’t do it justice:

Here’s another spaghetti squash that we’re going to cook and freeze for future spaghetti squash lasagna:

This is a delicious sugar-free granola recipe that I found from this blogger. It does use Stevia to sweeten it, which tastes sweet but doesn’t cause an insulin reaction like real sugar does in a body. It’s got a lot of almond slivers and a lot of coconut. Mmmmm.

Today has also been quite productive, though not exciting. Mark is at work, which for some reason usually makes me more productive at home. I’m boiling the beans, pictured below, and I also spent time working on this Home Management accordion folder. I tried to have a Home Management binder like so many excessively organized bloggers seem to have, but that just didn’t work for me:

Here are beans cooking, for some Lime Cilantro White Bean Hummus that I will make later this week:

Here’s the menu for the party, at which I will serve the Lime Cilantro White Bean Hummus. I know there are cookies and blondies on the list of food. Don’t be alarmed. I plan to exercise incredible willpower while mixing up the batter for these. I won’t touch them at all. In all honesty, cutting out sugar cold turkey is a lot easier for me than trying to limit my sugar consumption. If it’s completely out of the question, then I can’t try to reason myself into thinking that one cookie is okay. So, don’t worry.

And this is my tea cupboard, organized. Really, it doesn’t look that different, except that I took all loose leaf teas out of their bags with twistie-ties and put them into jars, with labels on the lids. Please ignore the embarrassing amount of tea I have on hand.

Goodbye, Sugar, For the Second Time

I meant to write a thoughtful reflection on Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day or the day after, maybe something about the sad state of our country: Black Friday shopping that now starts on Thanksgiving day and continues until Cyber Monday, which extends up to a week after Thanksgiving… But I never did get around to it.

So, suffice it to say, Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a great time with family, ate heartily, did partake in the Black Friday shopping (though not in the madness of midnight shopping), and spent some time healing our shopping-ravaged souls in the quiet slowness of an Amish community on Saturday.

Today is December 1. For me and Mark, this is a significant day.

Why?

Because we are cutting sugar out of our diet. Again. I always feel a little funny telling people that we’re making a major counter-cultural diet change. It’s probably because people always look at me askance when I tell them we’re giving up sugar. “Is that even possible?” they ask, and I’m forced to admit that in our society it’s actually very hard. It’s hard because any food that is even remotely processed probably has some kind of sugar in it. It’s even harder because at work and family gatherings where there is food, most of the food present will have sugar in it. It’s also hard because if people invite us over and they know we don’t eat sugar, then they wonder what to fix.

But I still think that for us, or at least for me, this is a necessary diet change, drastic though it may be. I’ve mentioned before on this blog my struggle with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and how that has affected, up to this point, our ability to get pregnant. PCOS has a lot of other super irritating symptoms that go along with it, like acne and male pattern hair growth, both of which can wreak havoc on a woman’s self-esteem.

I would really, really like to get rid of my PCOS. Or at least diminish its symptoms, both for the sake of overcoming infertility and for the sake of self esteem. So, if I hear repeatedly about a diet or lifestyle change that could diminish my PCOS, I will pay attention. If I were to hear repeatedly that drinking gasoline cured PCOS, I don’t think I would try it, but the fact that I had to pause and think about whether I would drink gasoline tells me one thing: I’m a desperate lady.

From my research on PCOS, I’ve found that the sugar in a woman’s diet, particularly highly refined sugars, can aggravate the symptoms of PCOS, and cutting sugar out can decrease many of the symptoms. Cutting sugar out of my diet is a lot less drastic than drinking gasoline, so I’m willing to try it!

We’re keeping it simple this time: starting to cut sugar out of our diets in the next two weeks, including all of the obvious culprits, all fruit, and most grains. We’ll maintain that diet for about three months and see if we see any changes in my health (or in Mark’s health—hey, maybe it will be good for both of us!). If we see some of the desired changes, we’ll continue. If we don’t see changes, we’ll give it up and go back to our mostly-health-albeit-sugary diet.

Throughout our three-month trial period, from today until March 1, I will keep you updated by sharing recipes we’re using, changes we’re noting, and frustrations over not being able to eat chocolate chip cookies or my favorite birthday cake. 

On My Bookshelf from Mozambique until Now

One of the changes I’ve decided to make since our time in Moz is to ignore my book blog, “Over a Steaming Mug of Tea,” for a while. I’m not quite ready to shut it down, but I’m close.

While I was in Mozambique, I realized that for the few months I had been operating my book review blog, I felt under constant pressure to read: to read new books and lots of them. Reading has always been one of my favorite hobbies, and I hadn’t expected that opening a book blog would turn one of my favorite hobbies into a chore, but that’s kind of what it did.

I would still like to share what I’m reading, however. I like to talk about books. But I’m kind of like a two-year-old in that I only like to do it when I don’t feel forced.

What I’ve Been Reading since Moz:

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller

This is a delightful read. If you have an e-reader or are able and willing to read on your computer with a Kindle app, I would highly recommend clicking over to Amazon and purchasing this e-book right now. (It’s $0.99!) I was able to read this book in a couple sittings, and I highlighted a lot of it. Basically, Keller writes from the premise that in our society we are too concerned about our self-esteem. All we need to do is have a healthy self-esteem and life will be peachy. But, when we focus on our self-esteem so much, we’re really just putting it in the place of God. “And, of course, as we are often reminded, if you try to put anything in the middle of the place that was originally made for God, it is going to be too small. It is going to rattle around in there” (Location 134).

Keller writes that the apostle Paul had a different approach: he basked in the freedom of self-forgetfulness. I won’t go into any more detail here, but suffice it to say that Keller’s book really made an impact on how I view myself and on the importance I place on how I view myself. Read it! You’ll love it.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

I hadn’t read anything by Anne Tyler before, but now I’m convinced that I need to read all her books. This is a story about immigration. And assimilation. And adoption. And having friends who are different from us. I won’t say this is a particularly fast-paced book. Two little girls are adopted from Korea by very different American families. They grow up, their parents become good friends. Their grandparents become good friends. The plot was fun, if not action-packed. But what really jarred me while reading this book was the vibrant and real way that Tyler writes about her characters. I got to know these characters, flaws and quirks and all, and I came to love the characters. This book impacted me in a unique way, in that I found myself quoting a character in conversations like I was quoting a friend, and only later realized I hadn’t been quoting a real person at all. That is the kind of impact that Tyler’s writing has. Mmm. Wonderful. 

The Shadow of the Almighty: The Life and Testament of Jim Elliot by Elisabeth Elliot

In all honesty, this book took me quite a while to get through. As much as I was inspired by Jim Elliot and his single-minded devotion, I did have a little trouble wading through all his journal entries. However, I did find myself sitting and thinking when I was done reading, and then praying that I would have even half as much devotion and determination in my relationship with God that Jim Elliot had. Even though missionary biographies are not the most exciting to me from a literary standpoint, they sure give me perspective on the small life I lead.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

I learned a ton about Japanese culture, particularly geisha culture, while reading this book. I found it all very fascinating, but the story was a little more risqué than I was expecting. Not sure if it makes my Top 100, but it was still very well written and very interesting. And I liked the book better than the movie. Surprise, surprise.

After Moz: The Big Picture (But it's really not that detailed so don't get excited.)

This is kind of like getting on the phone with a friend for the first time in months. I experience this quite regularly. I have a few very good friends from high school or college that I try to keep in touch with. Unfortunately, I am not a very good phone friend. I’m busy, they’re busy. And, well, we just don’t talk as much as we would like. So, when we get on the phone for the first time in three months, we always have a stutter of awkward uneasiness. What in the world should I ask this person about? And what should I tell them?

What should I tell you?

Not too much has changed yet as a result of our trip. (If you want a recap of our trip, check out our blog from our time in Mozambique.) Our perspective is a little wider. I’m perhaps a little more content with what I have. I’m also perhaps a little more easily irritated by petty complaints I hear.

One of my biggest prayer requests going into this trip was that Mark would come away from our time in Mozambique with a greater sense of calling in his life and career. He’s kind of floundered since college, not sure what he wants to do, not sure what he likes to do, not sure what God’s calling him to do.

While we were in Moz, Mark spent a lot of time in a recording studio helping record and edit a variety of pieces of music and the gospel of Mark in the Chuwabo language. He absolutely loved working in the studio. So, since we’ve been home, he’s begun to look for ways that he can begin working in a recording studio. Does he need additional schooling? If so, what kind? If not, what else can he do to gain experience in the recording industry? How can he build connections and get to know people already working in the recording industry? These are all questions he’s been asking himself.

And, though we haven’t made any major changes yet, I can feel that changes are coming. It’s exciting to see Mark excited. And it’s exciting to wonder what kinds of changes are coming down the pipe toward us.

That’s where we are in the ‘big picture,’ right now. Adoption is still looming (hopefully) near on the horizon. Other changes are looming as well, that I’m not quite ready to share here yet. But, as I say, it’s exciting.

OK. ‘Big Picture’ blog done. Maybe next time I’ll write about my newest granola recipe.

A Necessary 'Sesta'

Sesta is siesta in Portuguese. It is time for me to take a necessary sesta from my Art of Contentment blog in order to focus more fully on preparing for our upcoming trip to Mozambique. 

Take a few moments now to cry. Go ahead, it's OK. 

Mark and I will be gone until the end of October. Given culture shock, fatigue, and possible parasites, I will hopefully be posting again on The Art of Contentment by mid-November. 

If you are interested, you can always hop on over to our Mission to Mozambique blog. We'd love to share our adventure with you!