Live It Out Every Day

A New Focus

2012-01-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

As I look back on 2011, it’s easy to see it as a year characterized by action. I was moving, planning, giving, organizing, making, buying, driving. You don’t have to have an English BA to see all the verbs in that sentence.

But already by the end of 2011, I noticed a change in my focus. I have met so many people during all my time of action. I’ve met people who have nowhere to live and people who have homes; people who are drug addicts and alcoholics; people who are unemployed and trying to start their own business; people who want someone to care for their needs and people who cannot ask for help. As I met all these people, a few stuck out to me—or I should say “stuck on me."

As I look ahead to 2012, I see a shift from action to relationship. I see God moving me from doing for people to being with people. The shift doesn’t mean I should stop all my doing, but it means I’ll need to pay more attention to people. I’ve noticed when I’m just trying to meet people’s obvious physical needs (like cold or hunger), I don’t need to see them very closely or to see them very deeply. It’s easy to hand someone a pair of gloves, give them a “God bless you,” and keep walking. It’s harder to hand someone a pair of gloves, stop in front of them, and ask “Do you want to get a cup of coffee with me?” The later requires you to not only see people, but be interested in them and be willing to invest yourself in them.

It could be a very tiring year, but I foresee it being extremely rewarding! I pray to find myself rich in relationships by the start of 2013!

Do you see any trends in your 2011 or a change in focus for your 2012? Do you see a theme in how God is moving your in life?

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else feel like they’ve entered the new year panting and out of breath? My 2011 ended feeling like I had just sprinted the end of a race, but didn’t win anything. I was thinking of praying for a 2012 better than my 2011, but—if I really think about it—my 2011 had some impressive divine appearances in it. How could a year get any better?

I began my 2011 will a call from God that sounded a little something like, “Get up off your ass and do something with everything I’ve equipped you with.” I’m not saying that I think God swears, but it definitely had that tone to it. It was a no-nonsense call to action, and for once in my life I didn’t respond with excuses.

I prayed for a generous heart, and God delivered to me a willingness to give but also some unexpected resources.

I prayed for some ridiculous, crazy ideas on how to serve people, and God delivered some wild ideas and the courage to make them happen.

I prayed for all my preconceptions to be challenged and changed, and God introduced me to some amazing people who all have incredible stories.

And so I find myself praying for a 2012 exactly like my 2011. I already see how God is changing my focus from the last year to the next, but I’ll talk about that more this week. However 2012 goes for me, I pray that I see more of God and I am changed by it.

The Lost 1%

2011-12-04T22:39:00.000-08:00

I had blogged previously about our Occupy Seattle movement and how it was affecting my weekend activities. There’s been a lot of talk about the 99% on the news. The 99% seem to be defined as anyone who can’t assign the title of “Millionaire” to themselves. It’s easy to look at the 1% and assign blame for the big issues we’re struggling with now. It’s easy to look at the 1% and think, “If only they spread some of that money around then we wouldn’t have these big issues.”

What if I asked you to give the 1% a second chance? Should we forgive and forget all the bailouts and tax breaks that 1% receives? Are you willing to stop the blame game?

We 99% are part of a few other percentages that you may not be aware of. As Americans, we are part of a few nations worldwide who own 90% of all the wealth in the world. That’s right—although the US only has about 6% of the world adult population, we account for 34% of total wealth on our planet. If you’re reading this blog on your own computer, you’re likely in the top 10% of wage earners in the world. It only takes $30,000 a year to get into the top 10%. That’s why it’s far more likely you’re part of the 1% top wage earners on our planet, because it only takes $50,000 a year to get into that club.

Still feel that the 1% don’t deserve a second chance?

The bible says you are the 1%. In Matthew 18:12-14, a man who has 100 sheep finds that 1 is lost. He leaves the 99 to search for the lost 1. When he finds the 1, he brings it home calling all his friends and neighbors to celebrate with him.

You are the 1%, and God thinks you’re worth a second chance.

Scarf Party!

2011-11-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Another Friday night. Are you looking at your significant other asking, “What do you want to do tonight?” If you’re looking for ideas, you could have a Scarf Party!

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been buying up fleece at local fabric stores. I finally accumulated a sizable pile, so I invited seven of my friends over for a Scarf Party!

No sewing or knitting required. Only cutting. The fleece scarves are super easy to make (click here for videodirections). Everyone hung out for about two hours, and we made close to 70 scarves!

Our little friend here even used some of the remnants to braid us some dog toys!

I can’t wait to take these out to the streets. Things are a bit crazy with Thanksgiving coming up, but as soon as we get out there to hand them out, then I’ll let you know how it goes! Pray that these scarves make it into hands who need them!

Gut Reactions

2011-11-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

When am I going to learn to think about things before they come out of my mouth. I’m sure my mother has wondered this about me many times. I know my husband has. I’m just not very good at the stopping-and-thinking thing. And I definitely cannot always trust my gut reactions.

I was leaving Starbucks one morning this week and there were two older teenage boys standing outside. They weren’t being weird or anything, and they looked like normal, grungy, skateboard-carrying, punk-rock-listening teenage boys. As I stepped out onto the sidewalk, one asked, “Do you have a phone we could make a quick call on?” I told them I didn’t and got into my car to drive to work.

I’m sure you’ve had the exact same reaction without ever even thinking about it. “Could you spare any change?” Maybe you don’t even make eye contact, but you quickly mumble the negative and hurry on your way. It doesn’t require any thought. It’s our gut reaction.

It wasn’t until I was driving away that I really processed the situation. Wait a minute, I do have a phone. I have a phone with so many minutes that I can’t even use them every month, so their call wouldn’t have cost me a single cent. Heck, even if they grabbed my phone and ran off, I have insurance so it still wouldn’t have cost me much to replace it. Suddenly I had What Ifs flying through my head. What if they were runaways desperately trying to call their parents to get home? What if they were in trouble and were trying to call for help? What if they were homeless and trying to call a friend for a place to stay? Did I just ruin their lives with my gut reaction???

I didn’t feel like God was condemning me. But I did feel like God stepped into my thought process to say, “Listen, you don’t have that much power. I’m taking care of them, so calm down. How about next time you just think about what you’re saying before you say it?”

And then I said back, “Well maybe you should have given me a brain that actually processes words before my tongue can form them. How about you think of that next time you’re creating a fabulously impulsive me?”

And then God raised an eyebrow at me, and then I apologized for being sassy. Well, at least for the second part, the first part was kind of true.

What Grace Is Not

2011-11-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know I just posted yesterday, but I was reading this blog and my heart is leaping out of my chest at the truth of it.

I interact with a lot of people who stand on the fringe of our society. I give a lot of my money to these people because I want God to shape me into a give-until-I-have-nothing-left person. When I say I “give” money to them, I mean I literally give them cash in hand. There was one woman in Seattle who needed a dollar for a bus ticket home to visit her sick father every Saturday I saw her, so I gave her five each time she asked.

My favorite thing to do (seriously, you should try this) is when I see someone begging at the off ramp of my highway exit. Take a one dollar bill and a twenty—now fold them so that you can only see the one dollar bill on top. Give the folded bills to the off ramp beggar, and then watch in your rearview mirror. I guarantee you’ll either see shocked and tearful eyes or a happy dance.

A lot of us hesitate to give any rough-looking stranger money. They’ll buy drugs with it. They’ll buy beer with it. They’re going to fritter it away on useless junk to fill their large, expensive homes… oh, wait. That’s me.

“Grace is not about giving people what we want them to want.”

I pray over the money that I give to people, and then pray for the people. Maybe they buy drugs that send them to the hospital in an overdose. Maybe they go hungry as they buy dog food for the only companion they have. Maybe they buy nothing but junk food and are hungry again in an hour. Maybe they buy beer to just shut the world out.

Whatever they use the money for, my prayers guarantee that God will meet them there. God is there in the overdose. God is there in the loneliness. God is there in the hunger. God is there in the hangover.

And my generosity opens their heart, even just a crack, to let God in.

“Grace is not about giving people what we want them to want.” Grace is giving God the opportunity to give people what He knows they need.

Embrace your weaknesses!

2011-11-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

Holy hiatus, Batman! I didn’t take that break from posting on purpose, and I definitely don’t feel rested for it! Between a vacation, busy work, and friends, it seems every day there’s something that needs my attention. That’s not to say it’s bad, but I’m beginning to feel the wear.

Maybe that’s why it was quite a relief to read a post of Miss Leslie’s over at Top of the Page. She was talking about what she is not, meaning those areas of skill and strength and talent that we lack. That was a really long-winded way of saying “weakness.” Go ahead—let’s have a conversation about your weaknesses and see if you couch it in some spin.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m trying very hard lately to embrace my weaknesses and declare them to the world. I’m hoping you’re curious why.

If any of my friends had a need that they were hoping I could help them on, the ask would sound a bit like this, “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind…” or “If it isn’t a pain for you…” or “As long as it’s not an inconvenience…” One of my friends has a hard time asking for help, and I yell at her for it. As her friend, I want to help her. Her need, her weakness gives our relationship a chance to grow.

Why shouldn’t I give her the same chance to help me? I’ve got a plethora of weaknesses—or—I’ve got a plethora of opportunities to let my friends, my family, even perfect strangers serve me in love! God allows us to be so pathetically weak in areas so that we must rely on others just to get by. That’s what being the body of Christ means. I’m a hand, and you’re an eye. I can’t see, and you can’t grasp; but together we can get by in life.

Embrace your weaknesses! So here I go:

· I have a horrible memory. I mostly remember things the way I want to remember them.

· I’m rebellious to a fault. Whatever I’m told to do, I have the immediate desire to do the opposite.

· I don’t keep in touch with friends well. Even friends who live a mile away from me, it takes great effort to keep in touch with them. If you live across the country from me, I probably let our friendship die.

· I probably think I’m better than you in something. I have issues with pride.

· I rarely finish things. I’m very excited at the start of a project, but can’t seem to follow through.

· I have no self-control or discipline. In anything.

I’m claiming each of them, so—if you’re one of my friends—feel free to serve as the Spirit leads you! I welcome your strength. I pray that God keeps me weak in different ways throughout my entire life so that I always need to depend on Him and others.

Invisible Children

2011-10-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

Tonight I’m privileged to go to a presentation by the Invisible Children at my church. If you’re not familiar with the group, I encourage you to take a minute to checkout their website. If you don’t have an extra minute, here are the basics:

Invisible Children is an organization started by a bunch of 21-year-olds to help the child casualties of Joseph Kony’s rebel war in Africa. Since their founding, they’ve become a critical organization in the war against the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Did you read that sentence? A bunch of 21-year-olds started a charity that is changing the world.

I can’t say as much for myself when I was 21.

Unlike most charities, Invisible Children targets teens with all their youthful, optimistic exuberance. They take that exuberance—normally spent on shopping, texting and surrendering to raging hormones—and focus it into fundraising, professional training and changing the world. They give kids here a chance to make a difference in the lives of kids in Africa. You can literally watch that difference happen. I’m not exaggerating—click the link. They have a live map that shows you reports that a radio communication system Invisible Children installed in villages receives. You can see where the LRA has recently attacked, where they’ve been pushed back, and where children are being rescued.

One of these exuberant youths at my church has thrown herself into their cause. She has such an amazing heart for the children in Africa, and I’m seriously tempted to fly across the world with her to watch it happen. If you happen to be touched by Invisible Children’s cause, please consider making a donation to them in her name. It would mean the world to me to show her how a passionate persuit is rewarded.

Please pray for all the children robbed of childhoods, all the families robbed of their children, and for the restoration and healing of both.

God Bless Occupy Seattle

2011-10-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I didn’t lose you with the title! Here’s the scoop:

In February of this year, I began going downtown with some friends just about every weekend with food and supplies for the hungry and needy. For the first time, I could not find a single hungry or needy person this weekend!

We usually stick to the same stretch of blocks around Westlake Park. Westlake Park happens to be where our Occupy Seattle protesters are making their home. The first week they were there, we didn’t see many of our regulars and almost no other new faces. I had assumed it was because of the police presence. When the police are around in force, they tend to scare away loiterers.

However, this week, I only saw two familiar faces. That’s it! We circled our usual blocks several times and didn’t see a single hungry or needy face. Do you know where they were? They were with Occupy Seattle!!! The Occupy Wherever protesters don’t care who you are. If you have a sign and you’re protesting something, you’re welcome. They’ll feed you and give you hand-warmers and blankets.

Occupy Seattle has created a tent city feeding the homeless and hungry right in the middle of downtown Seattle!

This is the BEST kind of problem to have. Politically, I think the people of Occupy Seattle are idiots. But socially, I hope they stick around all winter! I think we’re going to have to change up our tactics next weekend. We’ll probably focus more on the supplies than food next week. If you’re in the Seattle area, we need lots of sock, hand-warmers and chapstick now that the winter rain has set in.

How God Works

2011-10-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Have I got a story for you! Ok, I have to set it up a bit. Remember my mailboxes? There have been a couple people who have been regulars to the mailboxes. They will write me a short letter, and then I write them back when I refill the mailboxes each week. One man wrote that he very much needed a new backpack, that his current red pack had to be stitched back together again and again. He let me know that he was often around the Safeway if I tried to find him.

I was excited that he would let me know about something specific he needed, but I had a selfish couple of weeks after getting his letter. I figured I’d go to REI and get something super nice for him there. I kept meaning to get to the store, but didn’t bother prioritizing it among all the other things I wanted to do with my time.

So on Saturday morning, my husband and I biked over to our farmers market and then stopped at REI afterward for some bike gear. We tried on gloves and looked at pants and checked out jackets. We made our purchase and headed home. The backpack I meant to pick up didn’t enter my thoughts for even a moment.

On our way home, we rode up to this crosswalk. Across the street, I saw two homeless men, one carrying a red backpack. I felt like God was shouting to me, “That’s him!” I suddenly remembered the backpack and his need. I couldn’t even bring myself to cross the street because I was so dismayed. I was JUST there! I couldn’t believe I had forgotten!

Strangely, the two men didn’t cross the street there but headed toward the underpass. I just knew he was heading toward Safeway. My husband and I biked home as quickly as we could, and I jumped into the car to head back out. I figured that I could race over to REI, pick up a backpack, and be over to Safeway in just a few minutes to catch the man.

I ran to the hiking section in REI, and my heart fell into my stomach. I had no idea how expensive hiking backpacks were! I’m not a hiker, but makers of those backpacks should be ashamed of themselves. I reluctantly trudged over to Target. I didn’t even think I would find anything nice there, but any backpack would be better than nothing.

Before I even got out of the car, I stopped myself and sat in the silence for a minute. I was running around crazy, feeling guilty, and not even thinking about the things that mattered. I prayed. I prayed that I would find a nice backpack in Target. I prayed that it wouldn’t be too expensive. I prayed that I could find the man once I had the backpack (by now, it had been at least 45 minutes since I saw him). I prayed that God would calm me and let me see what He wanted me to see.

This is how God works:

I found a big, nice backpack in exactly the price range I had been planning on in Target. I drove straight to Safeway where I saw the man on the sidewalk easily because there was an empty parking space right in front of him. I introduced myself (he remembered me). I told him I had a backpack for him (he seemed disbelieving). I noticed that he and his friend were eating beef jerky and cheese wiz, so I bought them a decent meal for lunch (he immediately ate it). I gave him my email address so he could get a hold of me if he ever needed anything else.

As it turns out, God knows what he’s doing! ;) Why am I always so amazed?

Fear and Success

2011-10-07T11:15:00.000-07:00

I can’t even remember how this thought got started in my head, because God seems to work in themes. I hear something at church which ends up being exactly the same idea that I had when listening to the radio which is the same thing I read in a blog somewhere.

Have you ever noticed how many of your decisions are based upon an outcome of success or failure? Probably close to all of them. I might decide not to pursue a relationship with a guy because we’re so opposite that it’s obvious the relationship would be a failure. I might take a job offer because the job description and what the company are looking for are so close to my own skills that it’s obvious it be a successful career move.

And yet, what are some of the most memorable learning experiences in your past? They’re probably almost all failures of some kind. Failed relationships. Failed jobs. Two failed college majors. (Me: Hey, a lot of people go to college for 8 years. My brother: Yeah, they’re called doctors.)

Are you so afraid of failure that you’re not getting the experience you need to succeed? This question is as true in our faith as it is in any other aspect of our lives. Maybe more so! The Bible is absolutely filled with colossal failures! Even those failures, though, are turned into some of the greatest experiences that God builds success upon.

Lately, I really feel like God is saying to me that my real success is in my simple action. The fact that I have decided to just act—to just say “yes”—means I can claim success! Who cares if my mailboxes for the homeless actually work? At least I tried!

What do you think? Is there any experience you think you might be missing out on because of your fear? Is there any failure in your life that you don’t think has given you experience to succeed later on?

That Rich Young Man

2011-10-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

So there Jesus is just sitting with his disciples, when a man approaches him. The man is well dressed, but—then again—I think everyone probably looked well-dressed next to Jesus and his disciples. The man approaches Jesus respectfully, maybe even kneeling or bowing before he asks his question, “Teacher, what good deed should I do so that I obtain eternal life?" I wonder, after hearing his question, if Jesus really gave the man his full attention—I mean, we all wish faith was this easy—because Jesus answers the man with some pretty "Sunday School" answers. "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you want eternal life, obey the commandments."

But the man pushes Jesus for more, "Which commandments?" But, again, Jesus seems to be on auto pilot: "You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

I can imagine at this point the man is almost frustrated, "I've done all that! What do I still lack?" And at this moment Jesus realizes that this man, although self-centered and misguided, is truly seeking what Jesus offers. The man understands he's lacking something, but is looking for someone to help him see what. For the first time, Jesus looks the man full in the eyes seeing him. "If you want to be perfect," he starts saying slowly, "then go. Sell what you possess, give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven." Jesus holds the man’s eyes and adds an invitation to the already tense moment, "Come, follow me."

Then the story (Matthew 19) says the man’s face fell because he owned many possessions. Maybe he suddenly grasps the silliness of his question. Maybe he grasps the burden of the answer. Why are we always surprised and disappointed when we realize the cost of faith? Maybe it’s because we deluded ourselves into thinking we could give nothing of ourselves and receive much.

Don’t be scared of the cost! I promise you it’s worth it, because I have received an exhilarating life full of blessings and love! Stop fearing the unknown and take a risk. Be strong and courageous.

Weird Insecurities

2011-09-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have these weird moments of insecurity. I say “weird” because I really don’t have an insecure bone in my body. I have a quite unhealthy sense of self esteem. But I was having a particularly insecure evening and doing some self reflection at that.

I realize that, when some people interact with me, they must see me as very childlike. I have abnormal exuberance for life and faith for a 30-year-old. And they’re right. I might have grown up in the church, but my renewed faith is very young. I view the world very simply. This is a little how I think I am seen:

Silly Girl

just a silly girl
she’s so naïve
believes she can change the world
believes in magic
and miracles
annoyingly optimistic thing, she is
gullibly excitable
ignorant of the world
she’s going to get herself hurt
or killed
dreaming simple dreams
just a silly girl

Don’t get me wrong—I’m cool with being me. I’m not dumb, and I realize that my view of the world is very simple of late. When you read through the gospels, Jesus’ world view was pretty darn simple. Maybe we complicate things intentionally.

Jesus, help me keep my simple faith.

Real People

2011-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

At the big dinner two Saturdays ago (I can’t believe it’s already over a week past), we had one gentleman who was one of the last to be there. He definitely did not have a roof over his head regularly. Whether he ate regularly, I couldn’t tell, but he was very grateful to have even the little vegetables and salad that was all we had left late in the evening.

I sat down to talk with him—probably one of the first times I sat down for more than two minutes all evening. I think he really just wanted someone to chat with. He talked about when he was a young man and first started going to church. He talked about when he joined some part of the military. He mentioned some kids, but didn’t sound like they were a part of his life now. He told me the story of what brought him to Seattle as he ate.

I realized that the man in front of me had a deep history. He had a long life full of both happiness and sadness, ease and difficulty. He had a family; he had lost dreams; he dealt with his life one day at a time. I realized that when I met people that entire evening, I wasn’t thinking of where they came from and who they were. I was seeing many of them for the first time that night and seeing them as if they materialized right then and there without any context other than an empty stomach.

I’m not saying I didn’t see my guests as people. I’m saying I didn’t see them as real people. It’s so easy to see a crowd of people as The Crowd. A crowd of faces without lives or histories or joys or concerns. Maybe you passed a homeless man on your way to work today. Maybe you gave that man five bucks. But did you consider the rest of that man’s life?

I think this is something critical I need to work on in order to see people. And the best way to teach myself these considerations is to get to know people on a deeper level.

Lord, give all of us the courage to let the knowledge of others seep into our hearts and change our vision.

Risk Yourself

2011-09-23T08:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my friend and I went downtown to do our normal thing early in the day. Instead of handing out food and supplies, we just had food with us and flyers inviting people to Saturday night’s dinner. The flyers had “FREE Dinner” big and in red at the top, and then details on when and where.

We got a lot of different reactions from people, but the most common reaction was suspicion. I was expecting this. I mean, there’s a reason we have the saying, “Nothing in life is free.” What I should have written the headline to say was “Dinner FREE to You!”

A lot of people just flat out asked us, “What’s the catch?” We explained to them why we were having this dinner, but even then it was obvious that many of them didn’t believe. We saw a lot of familiar faces at dinner, but we handed out way more flyers than people who came. It made me wonder how many people may have gone hungry that night because their distrust was stronger than their curiosity.

It got me wondering if I ever do this to myself. I wonder how many friends or strangers might want to pour grace into my life, but—because I have trouble believing how real God’s grace is—I miss out on relationships and blessings. It makes me more willing to risk being hurt just so that I don’t miss receiving God through people!

I pray that you’re willing to risk this week. I pray that you risk hurt and rejection and devastation, and I pray that you see God work amazingly because of your arms open wide for his grace!

A New Way to Feed the Homeless

2011-09-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

Faith is a funny thing. I was so convinced that God planned this banquet and that 100 people were going to come. Everyone was going to eat as much as they could stuff into themselves. We were going to laugh together and have a good time.

That’s exactly how it went! Why am I so amazed then?

I came home Saturday night and had to just lay in bed and process the whole evening. How is it possible that I have gone my whole life and never let God work this way in my life before? Just thinking about all that wasted time makes me all the more motivated to let God continue doing the impossible around me!

It was impossible that anyone would even waste that much money on just giving a bunch of hungry people one meal. It was impossible to find a restaurant that would let a bunch of dirty homeless people come sit on their chairs and use their bathrooms. It was impossible to find an upscale bakery to donate some of the most expensive and delicious cupcakes in town. It was impossible to get a bunch of upper class churchy people to give up their Saturday evenings to talk to street people. It was impossible that two unaffiliated girls handing out flyers for a free dinner would attract even one guest through their suspicion. It was impossible that 95 people showed up.

Do you understand everything we had going against us? This is how well it went:

God is good.

He is a God of second chances. He is a God of the impossible.

Thanks again to FareStart and Trophy Cupcakes!
Without you guys, it wouldn't have been such a classy event. :D

Getting Ready!

2011-09-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Today is the big day!!! I’m so nervous and excited that I was up at 6am despite my schedule allowing me to sleep in.

Last night, a few of us got together to pack up all the backpacks and go over any last minute details for today. You should have seen my car taking everything over to our church! We have a Scion xD, which is really just slightly bigger than a Mini Cooper. I literally had to load things in through the windows so I could stuff it to the roof!

We made 101 backpacks (and thought we’d be short! Tsk, tsk!). Every backpack has basic supplies (like shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste and socks) and a Bible. If I had two seconds to stand still and take it all in, I’d seriously be in tears.

We loaded all the backpacks into two friends’ cars (practically to the roof again!), and then prayed over them.

I’ve been doing this thing lately (I’m not sure how Biblical it is, but I love it), where I’ve been attaching God to inanimate objects through prayer. For example, I’ve been praying that God would cover all the items in my mailboxes with his Spirit, and just pour out Himself and blessings on the person who uses those items. I’ve always thought that God was pretty magical! So I prayed last night that God would stuff himself into every empty space in the backpacks, and that the people who open them undeniably see His presence and blessings and miracles active in their days to follow. Now the backpacks are booby-trapped with love!

Keep me and all our volunteers in your prayers tonight (5pm PST). I’ve been praying for the volunteers, the FareStart staff, and all the guests. I keep forgetting to pray for the little speech I’m going to give tonight, so someone has got to cover me in prayer! :D

God is in this.

2011-09-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

My posts lately have been a little sporadic, but I’m finally filling you on what’s been keeping me busy!

You may be aware of how I spend my Saturdays. I case you’re not, a friend of mine and I head to downtown Seattle to hand out food and supplies to the homeless, needy or people just generally present. For all our friends that we see every week (as well as any new ones we make between now and then), we are throwing a huge banquet!

If you’re interested in how it came about, I have a temporary blog set up with info about the event. Basically, we’re throwing a big catered dinner with the classiest dessert around (Trophy cupcakes, YUM!). We’re expecting 100 guests! Honestly, I have absolutely no idea who will be coming (when you’re homeless, RSVPs aren’t exactly your top priority), but God has put it in my heart that he’s sending 100 people my way.

And every guest will be leaving with a backpack stuffed full of supplies! This is what has really been keeping me busy. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find backpacks during the back-to-school season? Hard—unless you want to spend $60 on each backpack! But you should see my garage stuffed to the brim with backpacks and supplies!

I'm not giving away my bike, but everything else you see is either a backpack or supplies!

I’ll give you some more details on the dinner later this week, but—in the meantime—I need your prayers like crazy! I’m absolutely thrilled over how God is working in this, but I’m fighting some serious fear. What if no one comes? What if too many people come? What if people are awkward and won’t talk to me and they hate the food and a fight starts and the restaurant kicks us all out and…

Deep breath. God is in this.

Enough

2011-09-07T10:31:00.001-07:00

I was reading a Compassion advocate blog a while back and saw this statement:

The opposite of poverty is ~~wealth~~ enough.

Go ahead. Ask yourself, “Am I wealthy?” You’re probably like me since I hemmed and hawed, thinking about how I am wealthy in some ways or not as wealthy as other people in other ways. I wanted to answer “no,” but couldn’t quite bring myself to say “yes.”

Now ask yourself, “Do I have enough?”

That’s a very different question. Do I have enough? Yes. A resounding “yes!” I have so much more than enough. I have more than enough belongings (so many that I have to just give them away to Salvation Army to make room for more). I have more than enough food (so much that I will probably end up throwing away food that has gone bad this week). I have more than enough clothes, more than enough money, more than enough time.

As I’m letting this mentality sink into my brain, I’m beginning to make decisions differently. I’m also feeling a bit more grateful for what I have. Not that I wasn’t grateful before, but I’m starting to feel downright wealthy. And I certainly feel more generous with what I have because I have so much more beyond enough.

I’ve been praying that God turns me literally into a give-you-the-coat-off-her-back girl, and maybe I’m getting closer. I have a closet full of coats at home. Maybe I’ve finally been given the heart to just hand someone the excess right off of me.

A Prayer of Engagement

2011-08-30T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dearest Jesus—our great engagement—we ask you to cover us wholly with your presence so that we impact our world, leaving the people around us indelibly changed.

We ask you to give us the courage to reach the very bottom of your almost-empty jelly jar of love. Be our sticky hands and fingers, leaving everyone we touch with a persistent feeling of your loving kindness, like the incessant reminder of sugary tack on our skin. When our lives touch others’ lives, let us leave obvious reminders of our joy like gluey fingerprints on glass. Protect us from Satan’s threatening wet wipes.

Give us contagious blessings and viral gifts—a heavenly kind of disease infecting each person we contact. Let your miracles flow epidemically through us! Help us to spread them intentionally, like those chicken pox play dates some moms host, making your generosity unavoidably known to the unwittingly blessed.

Make your joy in our lives as obvious as that long-haired white cat owner in his best black suit pants. Be a light in our souls such that our dance partners walk away covered in the white fur of your undeniably transferring presence. Let there always be someone with a lint roller in her purse with whom we can share the mercy and grace that cling to us from you.

We thank you for using us as instruments of your peace—the dog poo piles of kindness on the sidewalk, the unseen dryer sheets of prayer that cling to the bottom of pant legs. Give us the courage to engage ourselves in our messy world.

Amen.

You have no idea how much fun this was to write. I think God truly enjoys a fun prayer as much as I do. :D

Scattered Mess

2011-08-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

My brain has been whirling for the past week. My life probably doesn’t look very eventful from the outside, but it has been a crazy week of revelation and confession and realizations. Since I’m a little all over the place, I’m just going to have a bit of a link party that will give you a quick glimpse into my life!

I just finished Beth Moore’s Inheritance Bible study. My life has been lit up with this theme for the past two months. The Lord is my portion, and the lines have fallen to me in pleasant places!

I’m still obsessing over this Never Beyond series from People of the Second Chance. Apparently, now Mike Tyson—along with Casey Anthony—is also eligible for grace through Jesus. ;)

I consider myself a veteran whiner. Just ask my mother. It’s possible my issues go deeper than just discontent with my situation; it could be trust issues. Again.

This is what I’m currently working on. The new game is fantastically fun, but I can literally see every day getting busier than the next. How am I going to maintain the balance I had a couple weeks ago?

I’m joining another 20/20 Lifestyles support group that starts on Monday because I’m finally admitting this is a life-long struggle that I don’t think I have the discipline to fight. I started a new Bible study today and heard these words, “What I’m holding on to is not worth what I’m giving up.”

Where are you at? Where has your life taken you? Feeling any more organized than I am? I love to know that I’m not the only scattered mess out there. :D

Never Beyond

2011-08-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

I just discovered People of the Second Chance over the past week, and I’ve been absolutely taken by their message. I’ve been reading everything on their site and all the blogs they link to—definitely check them out. Their mission is one of radical grace. Their newest series, NEVER BEYOND, proposes that no matter how horrible or heinous or hopeless someone may seem they are never beyond the grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers.

Who would you give a second chance?

I’ve struggle with this question. I’ve had a pretty darn good life. I’ve had no catastrophic or traumatic events. I even have *gasp* good parents. And I have a great husband! So I started considering the hurts that inevitably happen to all of us, that end up forming who we are to some extent. We all have insecurities that originate outside of ourselves for some reason. Here’s where my thoughts went:

What about Justin who observed that a 5th-grade-you had pretty hairy legs? What about Micah who—when asked in 7th grade if he liked you—responded that you had bushy eyebrows? What about that group of girls in your freshman English class you discovered had been calling you The Hairy Beast all semester?

The fact that I can remember names and specific times speaks to how deeply hurt by these people I was. And the fact that just recalling them made me cry speaks to how much I have not forgiven them for their actions.

Then I start considering all of the people I may have hurt equally, people whose lives have been formed or insecurities originated because of me and my actions. At 30 years old, I’m well aware that I can just say the stupidest things sometimes. What about the second chances or forgiveness I need that I might not even be aware of?

And then what about the forgiveness I need that I’m perfectly aware of, but simply too afraid to ask for it? I emotionally hurt my sister significantly when we were very young. We’ve never spoken of it since it happened—maybe she doesn’t even remember. But I do. And if she does, the fact that I was the matron of honor in her wedding means that she not only gave me a second chance on that account, but also on the many, many other hurts that accompany typical sisterhood growing up.

I don’t care how good you think you are. You are never beyond a second chance. You are NEVER BEYOND Jesus’ grace.

Being Church

2011-08-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

I’ve mentioned previously how much God seems to love a good theme. For months now, I’ve been getting a message:

Stop doing church and be church.

Between books, blogs and the current sermon series at my church, this message has been loud and clear. If you asked Jesus what church was, the limitation of Sunday mornings and a building wouldn’t be part of his definition. As a believer God’s spirit dwells in me, and that makes me a walking church. I’m working on being one of those churches with 24/7 hours of operation!

Lara, a fellow blogger over at To Overflowing, shared an amazing moment in her life last week. How many times do I see someone on the street and keep walking, just to later wonder if there was a way I could have helped? How many times have I looked people in the eye and passed by them to later pray for them without their knowing?

Lara shared a moment where she had the courage to not just drive by.

I pray that I can have this kind of courage and boldness every day. Boldness to be church.

Return to Real Life

2011-08-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed you all on Tuesday, but I didn’t miss you too much. The Husband and I just got back from an Alaskan cruise with my family! It was amazing! One of my brothers lives in Alaska, and—even though we didn’t get to see him—it’s always meant a lot to me to be able to at least see a little of his state. Even though his state is ridiculously cold even in the summer.

We got to see mountains and glaciers and make fun of tiny Alaskan tourist towns. We were surrounded by some of God’s amazing creation all week! And I got to spend the entire time on a beautiful, luxurious cruise ship. Sometimes I am truly astounded by how much God has blessed me—I’m not sure how I even begin to express it.

Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska! The fjord ends with a one-of-a-kind view of this glacier.

Anyone else had any fantastic summer vacations? Get to see any of God’s creation? Get to sit in the lap of luxury for a little while? I’m crazy thankful for the vacation I had, because I never know if I’ll ever get another like it!

Action to Transformation

2011-08-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

I’m posting a little bit early this week because today’s post follows up on Tuesday’s post. On Tuesday, I just cleared up that I don’t have this Mother-Teresa-esque bleeding heart for the homeless and poor. Doing what I do often puts me in very uncomfortable and awkward situations.

I wanted to take today to stress that sometimes—when you’re looking for transformation or movement in your life—you have to start with action, and transformation will follow.

On Saturdays, I go downtown with friends and hand out sandwiches and supplies to the many people on the street. When I started doing this, I was freaked out to talk to people! Sometimes I was so uncomfortable that I would just wave around socks or a sandwich and just hope that people who needed one or the other would come to me. It took me a good month before it occurred to me that these people had names. It took a while after that before I was brave enough to ask people about their lives. Heck, I’m still scared that I might ask some frumpy billionaire grandfather if he’s hungry and wants a sandwich!

The point is that I started doing what I do from the simple drive to act. My heard didn’t break for these people, but I knew I needed to simply do anything! Now? My heart does break! My heart breaks for Sid, Art and Steve, whom we haven’t seen for two weeks. My heart breaks for Ruth. My heart breaks for Scott. My heart breaks for Allen. These are the people I see or saw regularly. Now my heart breaks for the people who I meet right away: two homeless kids on the street with a kitten, a woman who refused anything we could give her because she only wanted money for drugs, a man who had his pack with his only belongings stolen, a man who had no shoes.

Transformation isn’t going to happen while you’re sitting on your butt. How could you stretch yourself in ways that you don’t currently consider options because you don’t have the “heart” for it? Maybe you could adopt a child. Maybe you rent out your guest room in your home. Maybe you volunteer with the elderly. Working with the homeless and needy isn’t your thing, you say? Then what is your thing?

Clearing the Air

2011-08-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take today to straighten out a few things with all my blog readers (and church friends). I’ve had a few people over the past couple weeks say to me something along these lines: “It’s fantastic that you are so active with poor people, but not everyone feels called to serve that way.” or “What you do with the homeless is blessed, but you can’t expect everyone to work with the homeless like you do.”

You’re missing the point.

I need to make it abundantly clear: I do not have a bleeding heart for the homeless and disenfranchised of our society. I did not feel like God was handing down from heaven a command to “Go! Serve the homeless and needy!” This is what I did hear God say to me:

“Get up off your butt and do something with what I’ve given you. Do something with the talents, gifts, wealth, and time that you’re so good at wasting on yourself. Stop using your faith as a seat cushion on Sunday mornings.”

So for the first time in my life, I decided to take God seriously.

I chose to do. I’m working with the homeless because their need is easy to see, not because I feel called, not because I’m comfortable around needy people, not because my heart breaks for them. I’m working with the homeless because Jesus said when I help someone in need, then I’m helping him. I’m working with the homeless because I realized that you don’t figure out what you are supposed to do with your life by not doing anything.

What’s this mean for you? Maybe this means you need to find a group of homeless to help no matter how much they repulse or frighten you. Maybe it means you take a closer look at the people who are already around you to see their need. If you’re serious about your faith, it means you don’t get to choose “not for me” until you’ve done the thing.

Sinners and Fools

2011-07-29T11:25:00.000-07:00

Today is kind of a funky day for me. I can’t seem to write a single thing, and I’m not digging anything that I already had written. So, I’ll keep it short today!

I’ve had this quote floating round my head for some time (this seems to be the week for quotes). My favorite author in the whole world, Frederick Buechner (pronounced “Beekner”), said:

“God makes his saints from sinners and fools because there’s no one else to use.”

I don’t know—the quote always humbles me and blesses me simultaneously.

Happy Friday!

Is This Real?

2011-07-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 again this weekend! The husband and I went last weekend—as soon as the movie finished I said, “I want to go again!” It was even better the second time around. :D

Not only is it a fantastic movie, but there were so many little things that stood out to me as relevant to a lot of the things going on in my spiritual life lately. There was one line from Dumbledore himself that struck my heart both times I heard it. (I refuse to give spoiler warnings, particularly for a book that has been out for years now.)

Harry has just been hit by Voldemort and has woken up in a “heavenly” kind of place where he has a conversation with Dumbledore. Harry asks Dumbledore if their conversation is real or just happening inside his head. Dumbledore replies, “Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it's not real?”

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve asked myself Harry’s question, particularly when I talk about my faith with people who don’t believe in God at all. I hear God’s voice in my head. He gives me direction and comfort in my head. I talk back to him in my head. Much of the action of my faith, my relationship with Jesus, happens in my head. It seems so real to me, but as soon as I try to explain it to someone I think I realize how crazy it sounds.

“But why on earth should that mean it’s not real?”

The voice of God in my head, my friendship with Jesus in my heart, the movement of the Holy Spirit inside me—these are more real than I could ever describe with words.

Am I alone in this? Do you ever feel like your experience with God is all in your head? Maybe you haven’t had any similar experiences—do think I just sound crazy?

Surrounded by Wealth

2011-07-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

It’s been about 2 months now since I sponsored a boy through Compassion International. I’ve been having a lot of fun writing him letters (and getting creative with fun things to send that fit in envelopes!). Jill over at Compassion Family was giving away a correspondence kit, and I won! The kit was filled full of fun papers, stickers and booklets—it arrived just in time for Yonathan’s birthday letter. (Thank you!)

As I write letters to Yonathan, I have to be very conscientious of what I am writing. Compassion has all kinds of tips for writing letters to your sponsored kids, but the one that stood out to me the most was: “Avoid elaborating on your material possessions.” Basically, don’t talk about how stinkin’ wealthy you are.

I promise you—no matter how poor you think you are or how poor you feel like you are, trying to tell someone about yourself and your life without mentioning your wealth will make you realize how stinkin’ wealthy you actually are. Your letters may end up looking similar to mine:

Dear Yonathan,

How are you? What did you do with your day today? ~~I vacuumed the carpets in my lavishly enormous home~~. ~~I had a horrible day at the job that I’m just lucky to have~~. ~~I ran errands all over creation in my brand new car~~. ~~I ate a huge dinner that I couldn’t finish and just threw away the leftovers because I prefer eating my food freshly cooked~~. I had a great day. Jesus loves you.

Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating! But it’s not that big of an exaggeration! I’ve told Yonathan about my husband, my state, our weather, my cats and my faith. I have to stick to specific topics, otherwise I find that some sort of reference to the enormity of God’s blessings in my life sneaks in. If I wasn’t consciously trying to use everything I’ve been given to share the blessing of my faith with everyone I can, I would feel immensely guilty about it all. But I do feel that this experience is opening up my eyes to how much MORE I have to give than I thought I did.

What about you? Have you ever been truly struck with how rich you are? Has it been in response to seeing someone without such wealth?

Mailbox Update!

2011-07-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to report to you all about my mailboxes! Ok, just last week I told you about the unique way that we’re reaching out to the homeless in our suburban town of Redmond, WA.

This weekend, my friend and I drove around town to check on them. Honestly, I didn’t bring a ton of things with me to refill the mailboxes. I think I didn’t expect them to work. I’m not sure why—still examining why I assume my ideas (at least the God-inspired ones) will fail—but I think I genuinely expected to find mailboxes stuffed full of soggy supplies.

Oh, did things turn out differently!

The first mailbox I checked was just about empty, and I found a letter in the notebook I left. It was from a man who lives in tent a local park. He was extremely grateful for the supplies and even left his cell phone number (in case you don’t know a lot of homeless people, many of them have cell phones) in case we wanted to reach him. I was over the moon excited!

The second mailbox was completely and utterly empty of all contents except for one piece of paper which a gal had scrawled her thanks upon. The next one was only missing a couple protein bars, but a man had also signed the notebook in thanks.

The fourth one hadn’t been touched, but I wasn’t completely shocked by this. It was in a interesting spot, and we weren’t completely sure it was on one of their trail heads. But we moved it to a different spot in the same area, so I’ll be praying that we picked well!

The fifth mailbox still had all its contents, but we found a note in the notebook. We placed it under a bridge along a well used bike trail in our area. We knew the homeless use the bridge for shelter, but weren’t sure how the mailbox would fare in such a high traffic area. The note was from two bicyclists who found the mailbox, but were touched by our effort and wanted to encourage us to keep on keeping on!

Why am I always so surprised when God comes through? Honestly, it’s been happening so much lately that I seriously should come to expect it. Maybe it’s just part of being human—that disbelief that we can change anything. What do you think? Worth a try in your neighborhood?

Mailboxes of Blessings!

2011-07-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

I’m helping to start a new project this week! A gentleman at my church is a city policeman (“Officer.” “Right. Policeman Officer.” - Hot Fuzz) here in Redmond. He had asked me in church a few weeks ago if I had thought at all about the homeless right in Redmond where I live. I told him I definitely had, but that we had no idea where to find them! Redmond is pretty suburban—suburban neighborhoods surrounding a downtown district with lots of shopping, restaurants and green spaces. You just don’t see a lot of hard-on-their-luck people hanging out in front of the Gene Juarez Spa & Salon.

So we drove around Redmond and he pointed out all of the places where the homeless live and gather. It turns out, they’re pretty good at hiding. They’ve found these wooded areas and overgrown areas near a creek that runs through town and then pitch tents as far back from the population as they can get.

I was excited to finally find where they were hiding, but I’m sure you see the problem that was immediately obvious. It’s not exactly safe for me and my girlfriends to go tromping through the woods by ourselves. Just because they’re homeless, doesn’t mean they’re criminals. But it doesn’t mean they’re not, either. Even if it was safe, we don’t want to just bust in on the little bit of a home they’ve created for themselves.

Thus, the advent of the Blessings Mailbox! We’re going to be placing these at the head of their trails from their homes to the main traffic ways. We have them stuffed with the normal supplies, but I have a notebook in each mailbox. The notebooks introduce ourselves and have pens in case anyone needs any supplies that we’re not regularly putting in the boxes. Oh, you’ll notice everything in Ziplocs because even in July I still see RAIN on Seattle’s weather forecast. Stupid state.

Honestly, I have no idea if these are going to work, but I’ll let you know! Even if they fail miserably, it was worth the effort in case they succeed, right?

Blessed Blessings!

2011-07-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I was doing my normal thing in downtown Seattle on a Saturday. We were handing out some bags with basic supplies (toothbrush, comb, soap, etc.). There were a few women who were enthusiastically accepting the supplies and one woman who kept asking for more. Our normal policy is pretty much to give people as much as they ask for. We don't have any kind of one-sandwich-per-person rule because you never know what people's needs are! Maybe that someone won't eat again for days, and I'm supposed to tell them that they can only have one? The same goes for supplies.

One of the other ladies was extremely upset that we were giving her so much. I asked her if she wanted more, but she explained that wasn't the point. She said, "She's just going to go sell all that stuff!" We calmed her down and assured her we had plenty, but it wasn't until last week that I was really hit with what my response should have been.

The supplies and food that we hand out are blessings from God given to us. We choose to take these blessings downtown, and we bless other people with them. When I give someone one of these blessings, it is going exactly where God intends it to go. If it's intended for that person, it's in their hands now. If it's intended for someone else, I have complete faith that it will get from that person's hands to its intended recipient. If that woman sold those supplies, maybe she desperately needed the money. Maybe the people who pay for them needed those supplies. Maybe the supplies are stolen from that women and the robbers needed them badly.

I’ve been exhilarated over the past couple weeks with the magic of God! Do you ever have the same feeling? That feeling that, despite all odds, things will work out? Have you ever seen that happen?

Happy as...

2011-07-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

I had to quickly share with you a moment I had today! I was downtown doing my normal thing—handing out food and water to people. There was one man who was so surprised and grateful as we overwhelmed him with everything we were giving him that he responded, “I’m as happy as a mosquito in a nudist colony!”

I hope that cheers your day—it did mine!

Moved to Action

2011-07-08T09:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently able to share some of what has been going on in my life with my church family (shout out to Meadowbrook!). It was a good opportunity to review my life over the past couple of months and evaluate how I got here.

Growing up in the church, it was stressed to me that I should try to live out God’s will for my life. But I’ve always struggled to know what God’s will for my life is. Every decision became a guessing game. What school does God want me to go to? Who does God want me to marry? Where does God want me to live? What job does God want me to have? What does God want me to eat for dinner???

So I went into autopilot and trusted what my culture was telling me. Go to a good school. Marry a really hot, attractive guy! Live in the biggest house you can afford. Get a corporate job and work your way up the ladder. After a while, I begin to convince myself that autopilot must just be what God intends for everyone.

But I wasn’t satisfied with it. I asked my friends at church many times, “Do you think it is possible to truly live a life like Jesus’ in suburban Redmond, in my big house, and in my 9 to 5 job?” I compared my life to what I read in the Bible, and it just didn’t add up.

My dissatisfaction grew until it reached a peak. If my faith made absolutely not one iota difference in my life, then why did I bother? I decided that faith without action was a colossal waste of time, but I couldn’t even imagine living without faith. I was faced with two choices: give my faith up completely and utterly, or immediately change my life in ways that daily reflected true faith.

That meant no longer letting my uncertainty and insecurity around God’s will paralyze me with indecision. Certainty and security aren’t faith, and they don’t build faith.

Since that decision, I feel God working in me to make me a woman of action! There are some days when I don’t feel like checking in, but most of my days are lit up with little opportunities to act and grow. There is always someone in need around me, and God has generously filled me so that I always feel like I have something to give—whether that’s emotional, financial, physical, or psychological.

What about you? Are you just going through the motions? If so, do you feel content with that? Have you ever had a similar realization that spurred you action?

Living by What I Learn

2011-07-06T12:25:00.000-07:00

I was watching The Book of Eli the other night. I heart this movie! If you don’t mind fist fighting or gun fights, I totally recommend. But one of the lines struck me in a new way that it hadn’t previously.

I’m not spoiling anything big by telling you that the main character, Eli, is carrying and protecting a Bible in a post-apocalyptic world where there are no Bibles. Late in the movie he says, “In all these years I’ve been carrying it and reading it every day. I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it.”

I was struck by the number of years in my own life that I’ve done the same. And I can’t be the only one walking through my life letting the words of God go in one ear and out the other without letting them move me to a single action.

Eli is riding with a girl who responds to his declaration with, “Yeah? What’s that?” Eli replies, “Do for others what you do for yourself.”

Boy, do I do a whole lot for myself. If I loved everyone else as much as I love myself, I seriously think I could change my world. I’m not just talking about the needy people I see every Saturday or strangers I pass on the street every week, but also my family and friends. I do love my family and friends, but do I really love them more than I love myself? I just don’t see it evident in my actions.

What about you? Do you have a lot of strong political and social opinions that never actually affect your decisions? Maybe you grew up in the church and know a whole lot of Bible, but don’t do a whole lot of loving? What do you have trapped in your head that you won’t give action to?

God's Workmanship!

2011-07-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've been memorizing a verse in Ephesians lately: 2:10 says, "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." I was looking at the words in the original Greek and noticed that "workmanship" is what is translated from "poiema." Can you see it? "Poiema" is the Greek word we get our English word "poem" from. It gives the meaning of "workmanship" a completely different spin, since most of us think of a physical kind of craft when we hear "workmanship." But the Bible is implying that the way God has created each of us is more like crafting an excellent poem!

When I was in high school, I had one of those poem-inspiring moments. I was looking outside and just had this sudden flash of imagery. I immediately began working it onto paper. A couple years later, I broke the poem back out during a college poetry class. I took what I was learning in class, reworked the metaphor, and dialed back the sheer number of adjectives I had used when I first wrote it. Later, in another college class, I whipped that poem back out changing the order, a few words, and made some drastic changes to how the words were oriented on the page. After I graduated, I finally made a few small tweaks for a presentation where I read the poem aloud to a group of friends.

If you’re not a writer, you might not realize the effort and energy and love that goes into writing a good poem. In my case, it may be a decade or more from the moment I receive the idea for a poem before I call it finished. You rewrite and rewrite until it feels that the poem has a life of its own!

You might not truly appreciate then when God calls us his “poiema.” What he means is that he was struck with a lightning moment of inspiration that resulted in him crafting You. But he doesn’t just stand back and call you final. He comes back again and again to perfect the incredible work he began in you. He rewrites and tweaks as you live your life, creating a work of literature truly reflective of the inspiration that began you.

Do you have moments in your life that you just wonder, “What in the world…?” only to reach a later point in your life where you find purpose and meaning in how the past has shaped you? Do you ever feel like God’s “workmanship”?

How to Give without Losing

2011-06-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

What holds most of us back from giving? For most of us (or, at least, particularly me), it was the fact that if I give something away, then I will no longer have it. If I give you my time, then I lose that time. If I give you my money, that’s money I no longer possess. Maybe it’s more of a fear that when we give we will inevitably lose.

It’s a very true fear, and I don’t intend to discount that. It is true: if I give you a dollar, then I no longer have that dollar. I haven’t discovered any huge secret of multiplying money or time. I’m not telling you that if you believe in God hard enough or if you have just enough faith, somehow you can miraculously give your dollar and keep your dollar.

Letting God make me generous is more than just overcoming that fear of losing; it’s having faith that it doesn’t matter how much I lack. God gives me faith that I have more time than I need. God gives me faith that I don’t need everything I have.

God gives me faith that no matter how much I give, He will fill me more than I could possibly give away.

No matter how many pairs of socks, pieces of fruit, or bottles of water I buy and give away, God fills me with gratitude, love, hope and grace to the point of breaking every single Saturday. I get so much out of helping people that sometimes it just feels downright selfish when I do it! People say, “God bless you!” and I say, “He already has!”

Even if I give away every single dollar and possession that I own, I will still live a very, very rich life.

How about you? What holds you back from giving? Do you worry about what you will lose if you give too much? What might you be lacking that you could gain through giving?

Calling

2011-06-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

One verse is all Matthew’s calling is given. Two short sentences—from the mouth of the man being called—are all he uses to describe the most important decision of his life (Mt 9:9). With other disciples, Jesus draws them to himself with miracles and wonders. But with Matthew, Jesus just sees the tax collector at his collection booth and says “Follow me.” With such little detail, it’s hard to imagine that Matthew could have possibly realized how momentous that moment was while he was in it.

Maybe Jesus was walking through town as he is about to pass Matthew’s tax collection booth. He doesn’t even slow his stride as he turns off the street toward the booth, as if it were his intention the entire time to approach Matthew. He leans over a seated Matthew, laying his hand on Matthew’s shoulder to get his attention. Matthew turns his head to find Jesus’ face only inches from his own and Jesus says “Follow me,” in the way that you would say “Follow me” if you had something off to the side you needed to show someone right then and there.

Maybe there was no choice to the moment—no decision was made. Jesus simply leaned down and said with expectation and authority, “Follow me.” Simply put, Matthew stands to follow Jesus automatically. “And he rose and followed him.” This moment was not a decision for a life of holiness and against a life of sin, choosing suffering over comfort, or heaven over hell. He simply got up and followed because the man told him to.

Matthew left his tax collection booth and followed Jesus. Days later he is surprised to find himself still following Jesus. Matthew assumes when Jesus is crucified that his following must have come to an end, but only three days pass before Jesus is back and telling Matthew to follow him again. Even as he looked a martyr’s death down, finally realizing exactly where this Jesus fellow was leading, Matthew decides that the healing, the miracles and love were all worth the sore feet, jail time and persecution. He figures that he’s been following this long; he might as well follow a little further.

Supposed To

2011-06-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

We deal with a lot of Supposed To’s in our lives: we’re supposed to go to school, supposed to get a nice job, supposed to marry a great guy, supposed to buy a big house, and supposed to start a family. I think that in our faith, it’s easy to also fall into more Supposed To’s: we’re supposed to go to church, supposed to help out with nursery or Sunday school, supposed to read our Bibles, supposed to pray every day, and supposed to give money to the poor.

It’s so easy to let ourselves become paralyzed by Supposed To’s. You might feel like you can’t work the job you really want to because it doesn’t make as much money as you’re supposed to. Maybe you feel like you can’t give away the money you’d like to because you feel like you’re supposed to save for a big house. We let ourselves become paralyzed with indecision because we’re overwhelmed with Supposed To.

One of my favorite movies is Chocolat. It’s about a small French town filled with people paralyzed by Supposed To. Judi Dench plays this fantastic curmudgeonly character who says, “Don’t worry so much about supposed to.”

For me, stepping away from those Supposed To’s took a lot of faith. I had to trust that God wasn’t standing over me making sure I was doing what I was Supposed To do. It’s been incredibly freeing! Turns out, there are no Supposed To’s in faith. There are Want To’s and Hope To’s and Love To’s!

I Want To feed the homeless. I Hope To give away much of my money. And I Love To go to church!

If your life and faith feel trapped by Supposed To, what would it look like if you stepped away from that sense of requirement? What do you Want To do? What do you Hope To do? What do you Love To do? Now that you’ve answered those three questions, answer this: what is truly keeping you from doing those things?

My Dad’s Hands

2011-06-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

With Father’s Day this weekend, my dad has been in my thoughts lately. And since I’ve been considering the life of Jesus in much of my study, I hope you enjoy the piece of writing here that combines the two. My dad is the most godly man I will ever know—I’m so thankful to have learned what faith is through his life.

If I mention Jesus’ hands, I’ll bet one of the first things you think of are scars. Those two red circular scars that artists never forget to place in the center of each of his palms. I’ve been thinking about those hands, and I’ve been wondering if those scars would truly be as noticeable as we imagine.

My dad is a carpenter. He has all the amenities and tools of the twenty-first century at his disposal: table saws, nail guns, and electric drills. Everything that Jesus would have done by hand.

Now let me tell you about my dad’s hands. They’re rough, covered with calluses. No matter how many times he washes them, they’re still a little dingy looking—like the dirt and grit leave a permanent stain. His finger nails are blunted and thick in places from being bashed, falling off and growing back in. There’s almost always a piece of duct tape somewhere on them (real men don’t use bandaids). But the duct tape only covers the cuts and gashes where he should have gotten stitches. There are plenty of scratches and scrapes that have scabbed over, and probably a splinter or two that he couldn’t pick out of his tough skin.

Jesus wasn’t out getting manicures with the disciples every weekend. The hands that were pierced with nails on the cross were already rough, calloused, dingy, gritty, gnarled, scarred, scraped and splintered hands.

The life he lived was just as important as the death he died. I imagine you probably had to look closely to tell one set of scars from the other.

Changing the World is Impossible

2011-06-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

A quick Wednesday update for you! I watched this today and was floored at how we let our realism talk us out of changing the world. Take a look, and it’ll change how you think about making a change.

It’s a Boy!

2011-06-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

My husband and I adopted a boy! ;) Through Compassion International. Man, I must talk about adoption a lot, because I have gotten so many people with that line this week! I’ve been talking Jared’s ear off about adopting a child, but it’s just not the time for us yet. I figured that if I get one of those Cup-of-Coffee-a-Day-Letter-Writing kids that maybe that will tide me over.

I’m so excited! His name is Yonathan and he lives in Mexico. He’s six years old, and I couldn’t resist picking him because his picture reminded me of my little brother. I wrote my first letter to him this week, and it was so hard not to write him a hundred pages. Since he’s just six, I kept it to two and in my neatest hand writing (which still isn’t very neat).

I was reading through the Compassion site and blog this week. I was surprised to learn about their goals and philosophies around what they do. As an American, I just assumed that the goal was to get kids healthy and a good education so that they can rise above their poverty and change their situation. However, so many of the Compassion kids may never leave poverty. They may grow up to live in the same dirt hut that they grew up in.

I couldn’t figure out how Compassion could call their program successful until I read what their real goal is: to break the cycle of poverty. They aim to break not the cycle of physical, material poverty, but the cycle of hopelessness that traps people in their poverty. Poverty tells kids, “You don’t matter. Nobody cares about you. Just give up.” That thinking makes kids victims to their situations. If an opportunity presented itself, they wouldn’t think enough of themselves to even take advantage of it.

So Compassion gives each kid a sponsor, who reinforces to those children that someone cares. Compassion cares and your sponsor cares. The sponsorship money gets kids healthy, fed and an education, which teaches kids how to invest in their selves. Maybe that child grows up and still lives in poverty, but they are no longer impoverished. They have something that the impoverished never have—hope.

Have you ever thought of sponsoring a child through one of these many of these programs? What do you think holds you back? Are you afraid of investing yourself in the kids? Are you afraid their poverty will make you feel guilty?

Just Show Up

2011-06-10T08:31:00.000-07:00

I read this lovely blog called Chatting at the Sky written by the beautiful Miss Emily. She takes amazing photos, and she is brave enough to bare herself through her writing. I have been so touched over the past week as she has written about her experience in the Philippines. You see, Miss Emily traveled to the Philippines to meet a little girl that her family sponsored through Compassion International.

The picture of poverty that she offers will break your heart, but—on the flip side—there is much good being done. People, whose hearts have broken for the Philippines, are there in love daily. I felt like she tore a page out of my own journal when she wrote:

“I felt scarce. I felt lacking. I felt I had nothing to give. But compassion speaks a different kind of language. There are a few things that, when given out, don’t go away. We think, if I give it to you, then I no longer have it. But not here. Not with these eyes. Not with this. There is a currency that isn’t dollars or pesos or yen. There is a limitless supply of grace and mercy available, and showing compassion sometimes just looks like showing up.”

I encourage you to read about her arrival to the Philippines (and the several posts following it about her visit). I promise that it will give you perspective.

How might you just “show up” in order to show someone compassion and grace? How about that hurting coworker who could really just use a lunch to talk? What about the person next to you on your flight who won’t stop talking to you?

Being Wealthy

2011-06-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

I talk a lot about how God has financially blessed me and how I am trying to let God develop a generous heart in me. But lately, I’ve noticed a different kind of wealth in my life that is definitely new.

I firmly believe that we are limited resources. There is a limited amount of "me" that I can give. If I choose to give myself completely to my job, then there’s nothing left for my husband when I get home. If I completely give myself to my husband, then there’s nothing left—no energy, emotion, time, etc.—for my friends or family.

Being very aware of this, I have always tried to be careful not to over extend myself. I had no issue saying “too bad” to overtime at work or saying “no” to a church planning committee if I felt that it would require more of me than I’m willing to give in one specific area. This means I was also willing to turn down friends who might want me at times to give more of myself to my husband, or leave my husband at home if I have a friend who really needs me.

But lately, since I’ve been trying to say “yes” to whatever ridiculous idea the divine puts in my head, I’ve been shocked at how much of me there is to give. I don’t think that I just had more to give than I was previously. I am genuinely investing myself more in people: the homeless and needy on Saturday, the people that I work with, and my ladies at church. And yet I still have enough of me to go around. I’ve been doing far more and being with people far more than I ever have been able to before, and not feel exhausted or frustrated. I seem to have a plethora of energy and emotional wealth to give that I know could only be flowing from my growing relationship with Jesus.

Instead of questions for thought today, I have a challenge for you. Maybe you believe in God, maybe you don’t—take the challenge anyway! Next time you feel run down or worn thin, seek out someone to minister to. Your ministry could look like giving your husband a back massage or making a sandwich for that homeless guy you pass every day. See how it makes you feel, and with an open mind (and heart) consider the source.

My Friday Night Plans!

2011-06-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

Boy, did I have crazy and wild plans for Friday night! At 7:30 I put on some of the most comfortable close-toed shoes that I own and went to church! Ain’t nothing as wild and crazy as church on a Friday night.

My church, Meadowbrook Church in Redmond, WA, was working with some other area churches and the organization Feed My Starving Children. FMSC is an organization that simply focuses on feeding starving children all over the world. Did you know that 22,000 kids die every single day from starvation? I didn’t. You can check out this UNICEF report if you don’t believe me.

So FMSC puts together these food packs: chicken flavoring, dehydrated veggies, dried soy, and rice. Each pack holds 6 servings. The kids who receive these packs may still only get one meal a day, but that’s one more meal a day than they were receiving before.

Tonight, about 100 people in Redmond packed over 60,000 meals. That’s about $14,000 worth of food for hungry kids. By Saturday night they’re hoping to have packed over 278,000 meals.

Nothing says "Sexy" like a hair net. The assembly lines were the definition of efficient. And they had the most enormous bags of rice I've ever seen in my entire life!

I know that’s a lot of different numbers I just threw at you. For me, it’s so hard to actually imagine the kids who will receive this food. I’ve only visited three countries outside the US—two of them were Canada and Mexico, and I was definitely on vacation both times. All I know is my big comfortable house where I live my food-filled life. Heck, my life is so filled with food that I paid a very large amount of money to have someone teach me how NOT to eat it all.

I just can’t even imagine going days without food. I can’t imagine being so hungry that I was willing to eat dirt. Can you imagine being a kid where hunger is your first and foremost need?

I challenge you to go the FMSC website and see how you can help. If you’re eating right now as you read this post, take a look at the bite of food you’re about to take and imagine a starving child watching you take a big bite. Ok, I know that was a cheap move, but I’m totally laughing here thinking of the guilt you’re probably feeling.

Seriously, get up off your butt and see how you can help. If you live on the Seattle Eastside, check out the Eastside Feed & Fill website. FMSC comes here about every 80 days or so, and I had a lot of fun tonight!

Pinch me, Jesus!

2011-05-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

I’m back in town after taking some vacation with my younger brother in PA. My trip was fantastic, but I’ve been wanting to share this post with you for a week now!

Last week, my pastor issued a challenge to us in our Sunday service: to pray and ask that God “pinch” us the following week. What’s this divine “pinch” you’re wondering? It’s a moment when it seems like God is whispering right in your ear with a message that is unmistakably not from yourself. I’ve heard many stories first hand from friends with these experiences. One friend was sitting in church and heard that the woman in front of her (a complete stranger) needed prayer. She was hesitating (because it’s weird to just tap someone on the shoulder and ask “Can I pray for you?”) when the woman turned around to look directly at my friend and ask, “I think God wants me to ask you to pray for me.”

So I accepted the challenge gladly! I asked God to “pinch” me at least one each day that week—that way I was looking for it. I know very well how wrapped up in my own day I can get. Throughout my week, I never got the lighting strike moment I was expecting. I think I was waiting for angels singing and neon signs from heaven. However, I did encounter many more people than I do normally in a week. Here’s what I think God was teaching me:

· If I want God to use me to help other people, I need to actually come in contact with other people throughout my day. It’s too easy to go from home to work to home again and never really contact another human being other than my husband. I’m working to change up my daily schedule so that I have plenty of contact and chances to help!

· For me to hear a message on what people need, I need to actually see everyone I come in contact with. If you were to ask me if the person who sat next to me on the bus was a man or woman, I couldn’t tell you. If you asked me what the person standing in front of me in the line for coffee this morning looked like, I couldn’t tell you. I think most of us go through life with our blinders on, but I realize that if I want God to give me a message on how to help people that I must SEE them first.

· It’s not always huge things that make a huge difference. I often felt like God was telling me, “Look into the cashier’s eyes when you greet her” or “Smile at that man you’re passing in the street” or “Chat with the bus driver while you’re riding.” Everything was so much smaller than I expected, but maybe those little things made a bigger difference than I could imagine.

Have you ever experienced this kind of “pinch” from heaven? How might you change up your schedule or actions so that God could “pinch” you? Or does the whole thing just sound crazy to you?

Kids in Need of You

2011-05-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturdays, when we head to downtown Seattle to give out sandwiches, socks and other supplies to the homeless and needy, there is always this large group of teens and young adults that we see every week. They’re not bashful about taking juice or sandwiches, and I always enjoy our conversations with them.

In talking with them, a lot of them have homes and families, but just like hanging out with their friends around the mall. This is the story I find that I often attribute to all the kids I meet. But all their stories aren’t this comforting. When I am confronted with the truth, it cuts me to my heart.

We’ve learned not to ask too many questions of these kids. The first week we were out there, we passed a kid in a cross walk with a couple other run down looking guys. We pushed some sandwiches and socks on them, but the kid looked like he couldn’t have been more than 12 or 13. We couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you?” He quickly got this weird look on his face and replied, “16.” He booked it away from us, and we haven’t seen him since.

Another week, a gal hanging with the crowd of teens saw us handing out food and practically ran over to us. She was hugging herself to keep warm and said, “I haven’t eaten in 3 days—can I have a sandwich?” When we hear that, we can’t help but load her up with a couple days worth of food and supplies. It’s not much, but she was crazy grateful for it.

The worst was a couple weeks ago when we were at the bus stop. There are almost never kids at the bus stop on 3rd, but that day there was this kid passing by who was 12. I say he was 12 because he reminded me of my 12-year-old brother so much that I couldn’t shake the feeling. He was excited to get some juice and some fruit. I didn’t think anything of it. A 12-year-old walking down the street seeing people hand out juice would totally be interested. I always keep some Pokémon cards on me, so I made sure he got some and I thought I saw him start walking down the street again. Then someone saw we had socks on us and the crowd got a little thick. A moment later the 12-year-old was back: “Can I have some socks, too?” I couldn’t tell you what my face looked like, but there’s no way I was able to hide the shock I felt. I said “of course” and gave him a couple pairs.

What normal, regularly fed and cared for 12-year-old purposefully comes back just for socks?

I’ll tell you—I’m tearing up just telling you the story. It’s so easy to shake our fists at the sky and scream at God, “Why? Why would you let children suffer like that? What are you doing about it?” My question to you is: “What are YOU doing about it?” Maybe you’re blessed with a huge home. Maybe you have more money than you even know what to do with. Maybe you’re just so blessed that you get to choose what you want for dinner every night. Before you shake your fist at the sky, make sure you’re willing to let God work through you.

Impressive Faith

2011-05-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

This is another piece of my “Bible Fan Fiction”! As I read through the gospels, I find people constantly marveling at Jesus, but I love this story so much because it’s Jesus who finds himself marveling at the centurion. Hope you enjoy!

Jesus and his disciples returned to Capernaum—where they were living for a time—after preaching to the crowds. As they entered the town, a centurion approached them in the street. The man, wearing typical centurion helmet and leather armor, walked with quickly and apparently toward them. Jesus was nervous for a moment; he knew the crowds and spreading rumors would soon cause him trouble with authorities, but he had assumed it would be trouble with religious authorities before the Roman authorities.

The centurion stopped in front of Jesus and removed his helmet. He tucked the feathered helmet under his arm and ran his hand through his hair, a gesture that signaled the distress that he didn’t wear anywhere on him other than his eyes. “Lord,” the centurion began, “my servant is lying paralyzed at home, and he is suffering terribly.”

Jesus, somewhat taken aback at the Roman man’s request of him, simply answered, “I will come and heal him.” Jesus started to step forward, assuming that the centurion would begin to lead him toward his home. But the centurion remained where he was. He stopped Jesus saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.” The centurion continued, speaking quickly and unnoticing of Jesus reaction, “For I am a man under authority with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Jesus stood, still in the half step he had taken forward, staring open-mouthed in marvel at the centurion. After a short moment, still looking at the centurion but obviously to his disciples he whispered, “Truly, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. Many will come from all over the world and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness.”

He straightened and nodded to the centurion, “Go. It is done for you as you have believed.” The centurion quickly bowed in thanks and hurried off to his home. When he arrived, he was told that his servant was healed, and he knew that it was at the very moment when Jesus spoke.

(Matthew 8:6-13)

My Actual Birthday!

2011-05-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

I know I had my birthday party several weeks ago, but today is my actual birthday! My very dear friend makes me a cake every year (they’re DELICIOUS). This year, my cake matches my blog!!! :D

Whine Connoisseur

2011-05-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

A friend this week shared with me WhiteWhine.com. If their URL doesn’t give it away for you, their subtitle is: A Collection of First World Problems. As hysterically sad as this site is, I think God has used it to give me a good boot to the head. It’s a huge heaping helping of Perspective, I guarantee. I figured the best way to demonstrate is to give you a few of my personal whines this week:

· “I cannot believe I have to sit in this traffic in my brand new Scion xD. Gas uses up a lot of my considerable expendable income that I would like to spend on myself in other ways! And don’t these people realize that my extremely lucrative office job is way more important than wherever they need to get to?”

· “Why does my gym have to be so far away from me? I really don’t feel like driving the two and a half miles so that I can run on a very expensive piece of equipment and then sit in their hot tub and relax. It’s seriously inconvenient.”

· “I’m so tired because I only got 6 hours of sleep in my large, comfortable bed in my large, warm home.”

· “Ugh, I hate having to cook dinner at home! It’s so annoying to go to the grocery store where I have to select from thousands of different high-quality, fresh foods. And then take that food to my very expensive home where I have to cook it myself.”

Lots of times when I’m giving to someone their response is “God bless you!” I used to just reply back with “God bless you,” until one day I felt God asking me, “What more blessing do you need?” It wasn’t a condemning kind of question. But as I looked at the homeless, jobless, possession-less man in front of me, it was a striking question. What more did I need?

Now I respond, “He already has!” If God hadn’t blessed me already with wealth and a spirit to hear his voice, I wouldn’t be out there in the first place.

Do any of these whines sound familiar? Do you ever stop to take a moment to really consider your complaints? Have you ever had anyone complain to you and had a realization like this?

My Disengagement

2011-05-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been noticing lately how connected I am to the Things around me. My Things. Maybe it’s because I find myself in situations where I’m surrounded by people who do not have the Things I have, but I wonder if it’s more than that.

When I head downtown on Saturdays, I try to always make sure I have some plastic grocery bags on me. There are times when we find someone who is so happy to receive what we’re handing out that they end up with their arms full. It’s very handy to be able to whip out a bag for them to put everything in.

So one Saturday when one woman found herself in that very position, she asked if we had a bag. I immediately dug in my pack, but realized that I was out of bags. I was halfway through saying, “I’m so sorry, but I don’t have any more left” when I’m pretty sure God popped into my thoughts: “You do have a bag. Right there, under your arm.” I had thrown some fruit that day into a reusable grocery bag for carrying around, but we were out of fruit and I had folded it under my arm.

But it was a reusable bag, and it was one of my Things. It didn’t even count as a bag in my brain because I was connected to it as mine.

After we handed out everything, I was walking through the mall to the parking lot. I saw the mall as if I had never seen one before. All of my values were momentarily suspended, and what I saw was ridiculous. I saw an entire building dedicated for people who carry bags of money—bags just overflowing with cash. Windows with piles of fabric and chunks of plastic displayed. Stores filled with Things that had no purpose but to belong to us. People strolled through the overwhelming display of Things and eagerly dumped money out of their bags for them.

I might as well be standing on the street with a sign reading “Will Work for Things.”

God is turning me literally into a Give-You-the-Shirt-off-Her-Back kind of girl. Disengaging me from my Things is the first step.

What about you—do you ever stand in the middle of a store and wonder why we do what we do? Do you feel like your Things have power over you?

Two Miracles

2011-05-05T14:27:00.001-07:00

I'm just so excited to share this that I can't wait until Friday! This is the first of that “Bible fan fiction” I was telling you about. I would love to know what you think of my embellished version of the events.

Jesus reclined, eating with his disciples and some new friends, who happened to be a bunch of tax collectors, when a well-dressed man burst into the area. He scanned the crowd of men and then took long and deliberate strides across the room to fall on his knees in front of Jesus. The man spoke in a voice full of pleading, “My daughter has just now died, but I know that if you come and touch her, she will live.”

Jesus took the man by his shoulders, lifting him as he stood. The man turned and practically ran from the room with Jesus immediately behind him. The disciples looked at one another for half a moment and then burst to their feet in a commotion, running to catch up with Jesus and the man in the streets. They quickly pushed through the daily crowd in the street with the disciples on their heels.

Meanwhile, a woman who had heard Jesus was at the tax collector’s home was on her way there. She was desperate to live her life normally, to be rid of her “bleeding disease” as her doctors were fond of calling it. She had heard stories, many stories. She knew if she could just touch Jesus—even just one part of him—she would be healed. Then she saw him, and her opportunity, in the crowd in the street pushing his way toward her. She stepped to the side as the group passed her and reached out her fingers to drag against Jesus’ robe as he walked by.

She didn’t even have half a moment to consider if she felt any differently because to her surprise Jesus immediately stopped. His sudden halt caused the trail of disciples, who did not stop suddenly, to trip over one another unexpectedly. Jesus turned and looked directly at her. His eyebrows were raised as if reflecting her surprise, but a smile touched his eyes. “Take heart, daughter. Your faith was made you well.”

The well-dressed man took Jesus’ elbow and insistently pulled him forward again leaving the astonished and healed woman behind. The disciples, again needing to catch up with Jesus, gathered themselves with confused looks and murmurs to one another and hurried on.

As they approached the man’s home, the two of them could hear a ways off the mourners and musicians his servants had hired for the girl’s passing. They cried loudly and played loudly, and the man beside Jesus looked stricken to see them. Jesus looked from the father to the black crowd and scolded them, “Go away! The girl is not dead, she’s just sleeping!” The cacophonous crowd fell silent at Jesus’ outburst, mourners cut off in mid cry, musicians mid note. They exchanged concerned and suspicious looks as if someone had just told them the sky was green and trees are blue. One of the musicians let slip a nervous giggle, starting the entire crowd laughing at Jesus.

Jesus shook his head in frustration, grabbed the servants of the house, and directed them to remove the entire crowd from the property. With ridiculing crowd ejected, Jesus entered the house alone, sensing that the father was unwilling to enter his own home. Jesus found the girl lying in her bed and knelt down beside her. He took her small hand in both of his, and she stirred awake. The girl looked at him and smiled. He helped her to her feet and led her by the hand from the house. The father fell to his knees when he saw the two hand-in-hand walking toward him. Jesus gave the man his daughter’s hand; the man could only look at Jesus with teary eyes filled with gratitude while the house servants whispered to one another in not-so-hushed tones of disbelief.

(Matthew 9:18-26)

Looking for Humanity

2011-05-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

I love the Harry Potter books. With eight long books, I can tell you quite a bit about Harry Potter. I can tell you what he looks like and who his friends are. I can tell you what he wants to be when he grows up. I know what things he fears, and the bravery in his heart that causes him to face those fears.

But when it comes to my faith, I don't get the same kind of detail. I could tell you far more about Harry Potter than I could about the person of Jesus.

For years now, I have struggled with relating with God. I think I am incapable of knowing God simply because I’m human. I can know Jesus because he was human and God, but I grew up in the church and I can tell you the church doesn't like to talk about Jesus' humanity. I think we prefer to ignore Jesus’ humanity. We never talk about his feelings, dreams, regrets, frustrations, fears, and joys. We never talk about his family and friends, his relationships, and how he related to the people that crowded in on him daily. We never talk about his doubts or temptations (he was human; he had more than the three in the desert).

But we much prefer to think of him as God. Maybe we’re afraid that if we understand his humanity that it would make him seem less God to us. Maybe we prefer a God that is untouched by our desires and weaknesses and sufferings. Whatever the reason, when we deny Jesus his humanity, we deny ourselves a bridge to God.

I've been doing some writing in trying to explore this humanity issue. I've been jokingly calling it "Bible fan fiction" with my friends, but maybe that's a better description than I'd like to admit. I can’t wait to share my writing this week.

Have you ever truly thought of Jesus as human? Do you even think he was human? Does thinking about this make you uncomfortable or can you relate?

My friends are amazing!

2011-05-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone was so amazingly generous! You wouldn’t believe it. As people came in, the piles on the tables just kept getting bigger and bigger! So many people came that we finished making the bags in about 20 minutes.

I'm not sure why I feel it necessary to make a rediculous face any time I'm in front of a camera. But there it is. :D

I have enough supplies bags to keep me going for a couple months. We made over a hundred bags of supplies. There were so many socks! And we go through socks! Enough socks to keep us stocked for weeks, and fresh fruit and bottles of water for Saturday.

I can’t thank all my friends enough! And I was so excited to see them so excited about helping!

Thank you!!!

A Party of 30s!

2011-04-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

My birthday is a big deal to me. Every year the entire month of May is my celebration month, and it usually culminates with some big event (or some several big events) with all my friends. I love the attention, the presents, the fun, and everything!

This year, I feel like God was asking me to work on not being the center of the world this May. (It’s just so hard to give up that spotlight when I’m so good at it!)

So I’m having a big party with all my friends. And, since I’m turning 30, I’m asking them to bring me 30 birthday presents! And now you’re saying, “Nice try, Mrs. Center of the World.”

Stay with me! I asked everyone to bring 30 pairs of socks, or bottles of water, or granola bars, mini soaps, deodorants, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, etc. For the party, we’re going to take everything everyone brings and make bags of supplies for me and my friends to hand out to the needy in Seattle on Saturday.

I’m crazy excited to get all my friends involved in this project. So many people are all, “Oh, it’s so great what you do.” Yeah, yeah, last thing I need is an ego stroking. But how are YOU going to get involved? My birthday just creates a fantastic occasion to guilt all my friends into participating. And I’m a firm believer in the positive power of guilt! If it gets your butt moving, then it’s a positive power!

I’ll post pictures because this is going to be great. People don’t understand how little it takes to get involved and how BIG of an effect the little things have on people who need them.

So how about you? Feeling moved to get involved? How could you use a little of that guilt to start participating? Any charities or food banks come to mind? Anything bigger you’ve been feeling God push on your heart about?

Big Talk

2011-04-26T08:50:00.001-07:00

About a month ago I got an email from a friend, “What are you up to on Saturday?” I had a big fat nothing going on, so I answered her in such asking what she had in mind. “Want to go feed the homeless with me?”

Now, it had been a couple weeks of me spouting off to my friends how I felt that faith was pointless and dead if we weren’t bothering to let it change us. I have a big mouth, so it was big talk. I said to the husband, “I believe that Christians should live out their faith in radical ways. I didn’t say that I was going to live out my faith in radical ways!”

I agreed to accompany my friend on her adventure purely out of entrapment. On Saturday morning we made some PB&Js and I bought some warm socks to hand out as well. I was surprised when my friend took us to a very prominent mall in the middle of downtown Seattle. I went to this mall all the time—where were the homeless people? Apparently, right in front of my face, I had just never noticed.

We didn’t spend long speaking to any one person, but everyone was shocked and grateful. One man sounded so depressed—it sounded like he hadn’t been homeless long and probably had a job and home only months prior. We are all of us only one unexpected event or one bad decision away from the people I saw.

Many people, homeless or simply observers, asked my friend and I who we were with. My friend simply responded, “Jesus.” One guy, on receiving her answer, said seriously, “Oh. You’re with the Big Guy.” It was funny, but most people seem bothered that we aren’t working with an organization.

It was an amazing day. We’ve been doing it every Saturday for weeks now. Jesus says, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes… Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me.” (Matt 25)

What do you think? Do you ever find that your beliefs don’t always translate into action? Do you think faith even requires action?

Why Bother?

2011-04-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

I’ve been asking myself, “What’s the point?” for a while now. It’s been easy for me to go through motions of faith without putting any of myself into the effort. For the past several years, I’ve been very conscious that my faith (maybe beliefs is a better word here) was not an active faith—like it was a dress that I took out of the closet every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening just to return it to the closet as soon as I was done wearing it.

So what was the point of my faith? Why was I even bothering to go to church? Why did I waste my time occasionally praying or reading my Bible? I wasn’t questioning the substance of my beliefs as much as I was questioning my belief. If I truly believed what I said I did, wouldn’t my life look differently? If I truly believe what I read about Jesus, could I continue to live the life I was living in suburbia Redmond with my 9-5 job and my obsession with prime time television?

For years I’ve been asking these questions. I asked in my church. I looked in the Bible. I talked to friends and looked online. Maybe it was because I didn’t want to hear the answer, but I didn’t find what I was looking for. So I stopped. I stopped praying. I stopped reading my Bible. I didn’t stop all the motions—I was too afraid of what people would say—I still went to church and my small group Bible study. But I didn’t put any effort in.

My Bible study started reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I don’t recommend this book, because the contents are crazy even to people of faith. The book pretty much says that Christ believers are called to daily live out their faith in radical ways. The author is completely off his rocker, but—crazy enough—these were answers I was looking for.

I knew the answers, but I just didn’t like them. It means that my faith jeopardizes my comfort. I was going to have to change, and I was going to have to put myself into it.

But I decided it was worth it. Why? I don’t know if I can explain it well. The best I can do is that the few times in my life when I felt a genuine close connection to God are the few times I felt the most exhilarated and alive. If I could have that every day, then it was worth giving up some personal comforts. I read about people who live their entire lives with purpose and dedication, and I admire them. It’s time to stop just reading about that life.

I ask at my own risk, but what do you think? Nutzo? Or does this ring a chord with you?

New Beginning

2011-04-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

The new site makeover is marking a celebration of life journeys! This month marks the one year anniversary of the end of my weight loss and the beginning of my life-long weight maintenance! With this mile marker in my life, I’ve been spending some time in reflection.

Live it out everyday. This isn’t just the title of my blog. It’s become something of a theme in my life. While I don’t always live out everything I have learned in maintaining my weight every day, that’s my goal. It will always be my goal. But our lives are filled with many journeys—many experiences and lessons that help us grow or force us to choose not to grow.

So as I have reflected over my life lately, I’ve realized that my weight maintenance journey is moving to the background while another is moving to the foreground.

I have always had strong beliefs. However, I have become sure that beliefs are not the same as faith. Although I have considered myself a Christian woman full of faith, I feel like my world has flip-flopped—up is down, left is right, and what I thought was faith was merely blind beliefs. A relevant metaphor: it’s like when you’re out for a run on a trail or path you’ve never taken before. You feel as though you’ve been running forever. You’re sure the end is close, but you round a corner only to discover that you’re closer to the beginning than you are the end.

I was so sure of what I knew, only to round the corner and realize I could not have been more wrong.

Live it out everyday. This isn’t just the title of my blog. It’s the title of my new beginning. I am starting a journey where my goal is to live out my faith in real and tangible ways every day. Just as with my weight loss, my life is going to look different. I will change. But that’s the point, isn’t it?

I challenge you to stick with me on this journey as you did the last. After all, if you spend your life never changing, you haven’t really lived at all, have you?

Excuse My Dust!

2011-04-07T21:36:00.001-07:00

You'll notice a little remodeling happening here! I've got some big changes to the blog happening very soon, so just hang in there! Stay tuned!

Jeff’s Gourmet Jerky Review

2011-03-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

I love to share with you my favorite low calorie and healthy foods! I’ve written lots of reviews, but this is the first time I’ve had a company approach me with some complimentary food to review. The wonderful Jeff over at Jeff’s Gourmet Jerky was confident he had a product I would like. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but my husband and I tried their four flavors of beef jerky this weekend—and we weren’t disappointed.

When Jeff’s claims that their jerky has intense flavor, they’re not kidding! Both my husband and I were genuinely surprised at how flavorful the jerky tastes! I couldn’t tell you how they pack in so much taste and keep the calories down, but the calories are impressive. Not only is 1 ounce only 70 calories, but there’s only 1 or 2 carbs (depending on flavor)!

Old Fashioned Original – This was the first flavor I tried and it’s good. It’s kind of tangy and smoky. It’s a little spicy, but most people should probably just ignore that comment. I’m a huge baby when it comes to anything spicy (most people probably wouldn’t even notice).

Orange Peel – I thought this was going to be my favorite flavor. It’s sweet and orangey tasting, but the orange isn’t overpowering. If I was craving something sweet, then this would hit the spot (and still let me get some good protein)!

Sweet Teriyaki – As soon as I tried this flavor, I decided it was hands down one of the best jerkies I’ve ever tasted. I love teriyaki flavors. This one is definitely sweet and tangy. It’s not as sweet as the Orange Peel. I could see me eating this one as a daily snack.

Black Pepper and Sea Salt – This flavor was very similar to the Old Fashioned Original, but just spicier with the obvious pepper flavoring. I will say that this one was not my favorite, but I’m just not a big fan of pepper flavors. If you do like pepper flavor, you’re going to love this one. My husband liked the additional pepper flavoring.

The beef has a great texture, too. I don’t like when my jerky is too rubbery, but Jeff’s Gourmet Jerky is moist and really chewable.

With 10 grams of protein, it’s the perfect snack. The only downside is that the jerky is slightly pricier than what I normally buy. The Jeff’s jerky is less than $7 for a 3 ounce bag, but you’ll have to pay for shipping as well (some of the organic jerkies I eat are about $5.50 to $6 for a similar sized bag). However! Jeff’s has this Jerky Every Month Club that will send you 3 bags of jerky for less than $20 and no additional shipping, which makes it a pretty good deal.

Meal-Tracking Online

2011-03-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

You ever have one of those work weeks that by Friday make you feel like you’re panting and out of breath? I’ve had a couple of those back to back. But my games have launched finally and the worst is behind me—back to the grind!

One of the most important tools you can possibly keep in your repertoire for weight loss and maintenance is meal tracking. For weight loss, meal tracking can give you a sense of control over how quickly or slowly you lose weight. Your meal tracker won’t make food decisions for you, but it gives you control over your accountability. For weight maintenance, meal tracking is the perfect way to get yourself back on track—like when your company sends you to NYC and you decide to go a little nuts on NY pizza and street meat. Hypothetically, of course.

I use a great meal tracker that was created by the 20/20 Lifestyles program that I did my weight loss with (they’re hoping to make the program available to the public in the future). But there are a lot of great meal trackers online.

One of my good friends started using the LiveStrong.com My Plate program created by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (http://www.livestrong.com/myplate). She’s found the program to have almost all features she needs to help her track her weight loss (as well as some health issues). Here are her favorite features for My Plate:

Provides numbers on calories, carbs, protein, fat, and sodium for each food. You can create saved meals (foods consumed at the same time) and recipes which provide the same numbers.
Huge database of foods (even my weird gluten free foods) including foods that don’t have calories on the package (like Whole Foods’ sausages).
Tracks weight, exercise and water intake as well.
Has reasonable calorie goals (although the goals for fat, carbs, protein are a little skewed towards carbs). Can chart weight against calories and see if a change is necessary.
Great recipe feature! Since my husband and I cook together, and we usually cook multiple portions to reheat later. What I do is I put all the ingredients into the system, and the servings, and it will tell me the calories/protein/carbs per serving (this helps me decide if it is worth making). Then when we make it, I weight the pot empty and full and put into the system the total weight so that it will remind me what the right serving size is each time I have it.

Have you discovered any online (or offline) meal trackers that have been helpful?

Cutting off the Reward Center

2011-02-27T22:55:00.000-08:00

Did you know that the activity in the reward center of the brains of obese people is exactly the same as cocaine addicts? I’ll say it again just in case that question didn’t sink in: when I am eating, my brain activity is the same as someone who is taking cocaine.

You’ll want to share this link I was reading with anyone who says people can’t be addicted to certain foods.

So what does this mean for us who struggle with our weight and our compulsion to eat? Science is beginning to prove that high sugar, high fat and high salt foods have addictive qualities for certain people. This means that some of us will have to be more vigilant than others in trying to control our eating habits.

A few of the most important things to remember:

Build in repetition of your new habits. You have to create and repeat a new routine for yourself. This won’t always help you overcome temptation in the moment, but it will give you a firmly planted daily routine to fall back on when you do give into temptation.

Get your blood moving. Exercise by itself raises the dopamine that your body releases. Exercise won’t give you the same rush that a piece of cake would, but it could give you enough of that feel-good feeling that you’re able to resist in the moment.

Find non-food rewards. I caught myself for a while rewarding my good eating habits with the promise of bad eating moments. To my brain, I was only reinforcing the hold that those highly palatable foods had over me. Find big and small ways to reward yourself non-calorically, and reward yourself often. This also means finding new ways to deal with stress. You need to find ways to relax that won’t lead you straight back to the foods you used to turn to.

Have you found any good ways to stop the pull that food has over you? Do you feel like there is nothing that could stop it? How do you see this happening to you each day?

Cycle of Overeating

2011-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Last week, we began to talk about the reward centers in our brains. The reward center is the area in our brain that is responsible for the feelings we have that motivate us toward certain behaviors—obviously, the behaviors that give us the most pleasure. Our brains release hormones that drive us toward actions, like eating or social interaction, that give us that sense of reward.

However, because of reaction in our brains when we eat highly palatable foods (foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt), we develop a habitual cycle that compels us to overeat.

I’m sure you’ve found that, after dieting for a while and abstaining from the highly palatable foods that you love, you begin to build up your expectations and memories around those foods. You’ve been on your diet perfectly for weeks, but now you’re remembering those amazing doughnuts they sell down the street. You remember how perfect they tasted, and you find it’s all you can think about. However, when you finally give in to your craving, your first bite isn’t as good as you remember it.

Even though you’re a little disappointed at the memory of that food, you’re brain is still darn happy that you gave in. Our brains are driving us to give in constantly—after all, our brains are programmed to seek the things that trigger our reward centers!

I’m sure you’ve also found that, after consistently giving in to those cravings for a while, you find that you no longer crave the one food you wanted and now crave a different food. This is because the rewards center in our brains can become immune to the response that a food previously triggered. This is exactly what is happening when you cave and eat an entire sleeve of Thin Mints (those horrible Girl Scouts will be out soon, prepare yourself). You finish off the cookies, but find that now you’re craving potato chips. Your brain says, “Ok, I’m done with the cookies. The magic is gone. But you know what would do the trick? Something salty!”

I’m sure you see how overeating can become cyclical in these instances. It’s so tempting to run from one highly palatable food to the other, keeping that “high” in our brains constant. Do you see this cycle in your own life?

We’ll be talking once more this week about stopping this cycle in its tracks. There is hope!

Making You Fat Is Good for Business

2011-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

You may not realize this, but the American restaurant industry has perfected the science of making you fat.

Through research and scientific examination, we now know that certain foods trigger the pleasure center or the rewards center in our brains. Foods high in sugar cause a reaction in our brains that drives us to seek out more of that food and eat more than we need to eat of that food. Take that high-sugar food and add fat—you get a stronger reaction; take that high-sugar, high-fat food and add salt—you get the strongest reaction.

The restaurant industry employs scientists and researchers to help their chefs create food that is highly palatable (longtime readers will recognize this phrase right away). These highly palatable foods are engineered to make you strongly desire them and overeat them. Restaurants layer salt on fat on sugar and then sit back as you dish out your money to them.

For example, fast food French fries. At the processing plant, they slice up potatoes (a carbohydrate that your body immediately processes into sugar) and fry them in salted vegetable oil (fat with added salt). They are also sprayed with a sugar solution to help them brown (more sugar). The French fries are then flash frozen and sent to the restaurant. At the restaurant, the frozen fries are tossed again into frying oil and then salted before they’re served (more fat and salt). What’s a French fry? It’s sugar layered with fat and salt, more sugar, and more fat and salt.

No wonder our brains seek out these foods exactly like an addiction.

I’ll be talking more in the next week or so about our reward centers. Our long term success depends upon understanding how our brains work and creating a plan on how to deal with our addictions.

Love Those Pounds Away!

2011-02-14T10:35:00.001-08:00

In honor of Valentine’s Day today—especially considering most of us will both be eating out and skipping the gym—here’s a few ways you can get to your daily calorie burn and get your lovin’ in at the same time:

Grab your hubby’s hand and go for a walk. A one-mile leisurely stroll will burn 100 calories for you.

If you add some smooching in during your walk, you can burn 2 calories for each minute you spend lip-locked.

Or the two of you could jump on one of those very romantic two-seater bikes. With the breeze in your hair, a 30-minute pedal with your love could burn you 150 calories.

Let’s say you happen to ride that two-seater to a secluded romantic spot, a little… ahem… “interlude” would add 30 calories to your daily burn.

I’m splurging for the day and doing pizza and a movie with the husband. How are you spending your Love Day?

Spreading Love… and Healthy Living!

2011-02-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

I just heard about an exciting movement this week! It’s called The 100 Women Project. Not a super catchy name, but wait until you hear their goal. It’s a movement being run by a mom and daughter duo. With daughter’s help, mom lost 90 pounds and has learned how to keep it off. The duo is determined to help other women accomplish similar goals, and their hope is to create a ripple effect of health and wellness that travels far beyond their initial scope.

Here’s how the program is going to work. They’re looking for 100 women to join the project. These women will receive all the tools and support they need on their journey: coaching, nutrition guidance, food recommendations, self-care products, recipes, etc. Participants will learn how to build sustainably healthy lives.

The project will culminate with a book that will not only celebrate the transformations of this initial 100 women, but will serve as inspiration for other women now embarking on their own transformations of health and wellness.

You can check out their story and other program details at http://www.100womenproject.com/.

I’m really excited about this project, I’ll be following it as they get started in the next couple of months. It’s motivating to see others succeed in passing on their experiences and knowledge. I know that my own transformation made me want to share it with others.

I hope you’ll hop by their website and check it out. Please pass it on to anyone who you think might be interested in becoming a participant! There aren’t many people in this world just handing out help with good hearts—you need to accept the help in whatever form it comes.

Packaging Doesn’t Always Equal Junk

2011-02-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

With my job having been so crazy lately, grocery shopping has taken a bit of a dive in my priorities. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m not sticking to my calorie range and eating as well as I should! That just means I don’t have a lot of fresh food around the house (or time to prepare it, even if I did). I realized today when I was packing my lunch that I have a kind of emergency supply of pre-packaged healthy foods for just these seasons!

So here are a few of my favorite quick-to-grab, easy-to-make foods:

StarKist Tuna Salad Pouch – I about fell over from shock when I first looked at the nutritional info on these little 3oz pouches. There are only 100 calories in one pouch, 13g of protein and only 3g of fat! Seriously, quickest lunch ever: grab two of these pouches and couple whole wheat crackers.

Brothers-All-Natural Fruit Crisps – Since I don’t have any fresh fruit around the house, these little pouches of freeze dried apples, pears, bananas and strawberries are the perfect answer. Each little pouch of fruit is 40-60 calories of nothing but fruit! They also help with those crunchy, munchy cravings. I like getting the big box at Costco, but you can find them most anywhere.

Birds Eye Steamfresh Veggies – I’m sure you’ve already seen these at your grocery store—they’re everywhere! If you don’t already keep some bags of the steam-in-bag microwave veggies around your house, you need to. There’s no quicker dinner! I’ll throw some chicken on to broil (add a very small amount of BBQ or teriyaki sauce on the side) and a bag of these veggies. Dinner is done in 15 minutes and I got my veggies for the day!

SnackMasters Turkey Jerky – This one is my new favorite snack to go! I’ve had turkey jerky before, but this SnackMasters brand just tastes amazing. Their Teriyaki flavor is my favorite, but they also have Hot & Spicy. Heck, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try their salmon jerky or ahi tuna jerky! The turkey jerky is only 70 calories in an ounce, and it’s a quick grab when you’re on the go.

Do you have any favorites in the pre-packaged category? Does packaging make you nervous? What are your secret weapons when you’re schedule gets crazy?

Bouncing Back!

2011-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, my beloved Steelers let me down yesterday. But you can’t win them all! It was a good game, and—at least at my house—even better food! I couldn’t resist cooking up a Pittsburgh classic: Kielbasa, pierogies and sauerkraut! It definitely wasn’t a low-call kind of meal, but I have to let myself go every now and then.

I find that I’m getting much better at bouncing back to my normal routine when I let myself have these little caloric vacations. I didn’t keep any of the leftovers (I know, my mother would be appalled), and I definitely didn’t force them on any of my guests (my biggest pet peeve ever)! I did bring the extra cupcakes into work, but frankly it’s just payback for my coworkers who always have junk food sitting around their own desks. I packed my breakfast and lunch today, and I’ve got my trip to the gym planned for tonight.

When living healthy is your daily routine, it’s not so hard to get back onto the right track if you take a small detour!

If you find that bouncing back is harder than you think it should be, take a look at your daily habits and routines. Do you find that your own healthy lifestyle is your “normal”? Or is it less a part of your daily schedule than you realize?

If you’ve made many healthy changes to your own life—and stuck to them for a while—do you find that you can bounce back pretty easily from these kinds of days?

Accentuate the Positive

2011-02-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here’s a challenge for you. Find a good mirror and take a look at your face. Take a long look! Now write down everything that you see as you’re taking in your reflection. What kinds of things do you find yourself writing?

Most of us will likely have some of those negative, picky thoughts: I see a pimple; I don’t really like my hair today; there’s my big nose. Everyone has thoughts like this! The real question is—does your list only have these kinds of thoughts on it?

Or do you have positive observations mixed in? I’ve always liked the color of my eyes; thank heavens good skin is genetic in my family; hey, my double chin is gone! You should have a healthy mix of positive in with any of the negative on your list. These are the things that say: “Hey, I’m not perfect, but I like me!”

The point of this exercise? Recently, I’m noticing something in more and more people (ok, mostly women) I speak to about losing weight or getting healthy. So many people make decisions to get healthy, to get fit, or to lose weight for different reasons. They have different goals and different motivations. But many of them have something in common—they think that if they make the changes they’re making, then they will like themselves better.

I’ve got news for you: you’re not going to like yourself any better if you lose 100 pounds. You’re not going to like yourself better if you can do 100 pushups. You’re not going to like yourself better even when you’re eating 100 percent healthy foods.

There is always something to not like about ourselves! If your list is filled with negative self-talk, do you think fixing one thing on the list will grant you life-long happiness? What if you get to your goal weight and decide it’s not enough? What if you reach your fitness goal and realize you wanted more? What if you eat nothing but healthy food but find you’re still addicted to sugar and fat?

If you’re going to find happiness once you reach your goals, then you need to find that happiness now.

Why do you think it’s so hard for us to like ourselves? I challenge you to not blame the media! Here, I’ll re-ask this week’s discussion question: Why do you think it’s so hard for YOU to like YOURSELF?

Oh, Those Dietary Guidelines...

2011-02-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

On Monday, the USDA released their 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. My friend Alex, over at I Eat Asphalt, gives a great layman’s breakdown of what changes this announcement entails. Basically, the USDA is finally taking serious the obesity epidemic that our country is facing. Most of the changes could simply be summed up as “Eat less and eat nutritiously.”

I’m happy to see the government finally making this step, but I can’t help but feel that they’re still several steps behind the rest of us. These are their messages to Americans:

Balancing Calories- Enjoy your food, but eat less.
- Avoid oversized portions.

Foods to Increase- Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.
- Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.

Foods to Reduce- Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals—and choose the foods with lower numbers.
- Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

Please, oh please tell me that your reaction is “No. Duh.” Really USDA? This is your news flash of 2010? The saddest part is—if you followed the directions above while eating a 2000 calorie diet, you would only lose weight if you’re seriously overweight. If I followed that kind of diet, I would gain 35 pounds in a year!

What do you think? Do you USDA recommendations to guide your own diet choices? Are they behind the times?

BBQ in January!

2011-01-31T08:56:00.000-08:00

One of my absolute favorite dinners is shish kabobs! Kabobs are the perfect dinner because they’re quick, they’re easy and they’re delicious. They’re a great kind of dinner to get the kids involved with (learning opportunity!). And it’s just so invigorating to have BBQ when it’s cold and blustery out!

Kabobs are one of those foods where you don’t really need a recipe—just imagination!

I’m a big fan of Teriyaki Kabobs. I’ll use a lean cut of beef (like filet mignon or top round), zucchini, mushrooms, and green peppers. Lightly brush some teriyaki sauce over top and you’re good to grill. If you have calories left for some extra carbs, you can even have a little brown rice on the side.

There are also the classic BBQ Kabobs. I like BBQ chicken best, but I like to mix it up with snow peas, mushrooms, and asparagus. I have friends who love to add some pineapple to their BBQ kabobs.

Here in Seattle, you can pretty much grill all year round. But my parents, buried in snow in Pennsylvania right now, also do a lot of winter grilling. If you don’t have a grill, your broiler is actually a great way to fake it. No broiler? A ridged skillet and some olive oil are all you need. You’re going to want a very hot heat on the stove. You don’t want to cook them, you want to sear them.

And it’s a perfect dinner to involve the whole family! Get the kids to cut veggies (with supervision, of course) or and have them skewer the kabobs. It’ll be the perfect time to explain why veggies and protein are so important for them. And I guarantee that kids are far more interested in eating their veggies when they get to see where they came from and how they’re made.

What do you think? Do you have favorites for your own kabobs? Or does the sound of winter grilling just make you shiver?

Ready! Set! Eat?

2011-01-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

People, I have discovered one of the most amazing tools ever! Our friend over at Leaving Fatville turned me on to http://www.readyseteat.com/. Awesome! Ok, whether you’re trying to lose or maintain your weight (or just don’t care), this is the perfect website for planning our last minute dinners.

The basics: You tell it how much time you have and what kind of main ingredient you’d like, and then it spits out some quick and easy dinner recipes for you. You can enter your zip code and select your normal grocery store (so that it can tell you what ingredients are on sale). AND there’s a “Healthier Recipes” button to filter out the high calorie dinners.

Awesomeness: The recipes are designed to be quick and simple, but flavorful. You won’t have to go scrounging for hard-to-find ingredients, and you won’t be spending a fortune. Once you register on the site, you can rate recipes and find other coupons and offers.

Pitfalls: Even the “Healthier Recipes” aren’t perfect. If you’re trying to lose weight, the worst thing you could do is just pick one of their healthy recipes and assume the calories are low. However! It’s easier than pie to substitute what are obviously paid sponsor foods (like Banquet frozen chicken) and just use plain chicken breast in your recipe.

I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am! I’ve been in one of those ruts where I’m eating the same five dinners every week. While that’s ok with Mr. Husband, I’m getting bored and quick. I can see me using this on the weekends to plan out my meals for the week (so I don’t have to make last minute stops at the store).

Any great suggestions on how to keep dinners simple but creative? Any weekly timesavers you’ve discovered? Favorite easy recipes?

Skipping the Gym

2011-01-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

I was meeting with my trainer the other day—I figured a good way to jumpstart my fitness is a couple weeks of visiting the ol’ trainer—and he was asking me about my weekly schedule. I gave him a rundown of the classes I like and machines I like on days when I don’t have class. He asked, “What days are your days off?” I laughed at him. I don’t schedule myself days off from working out because they seem to happen all on their own!

Those are the days when you get home from work, having every intention of going to the gym throughout the day, but after cooking dinner you just can’t seem to muster the energy to head back out again. Often I feel guilty for not making any effort to be active. That’s why I have a few Plan B’s at home!

One of my favorite at-home activities is video games! If this sentence takes you by surprise, then you haven’t been paying much attention to what your kids are playing. My parents have a Wii—my mom loves the Wii Zumba and Wii Fit games. I got my brother the Wario Smooth Moves game for Christmas and you’d be shocked at the sweat you can build up just paying a simple game. At our house, we have a new Kinect! I love the Dance Central game (I can’t dance, but I’m a star!).

I don’t have any machines or weights at home, but I did splurge on a Bosu Ball. It’s a great tool that I can use for balance, abs, legs, pushups or anything I can think of! You don’t have to fill your house with fitness aids or bulky machines (that just end up holding your laundry). But if you pick one tool to keep around, you have a backup plan for those days when you just want to stay in, like a yoga mat, a balance disc, or an exercise band.

What kind of backup plan do you have for when your normal routine gives? Any favorite DVD workouts? Have you tried other simple exercises that don’t require any equipment?

Diet Food Protest

2011-01-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

The lovely Lorrie, over at The Token Fat Girl, posted an interesting personal discovery this week. She was talking about the differences between “diet food” and “health food.”

She defines “diet food” as anything in a package that has a weight loss claim. I thought it was a very good description! These are the foods that you might like or not like, but that we can easily find ourselves gravitating toward in our search for that quick fix weight loss solution.

“Health food,” on the other hand, is what I think Miss Lorrie would describe as anything natural. It’s safe to say that these are the foods that we all know we should eat every day, but most likely don’t.

Now, we know that any food—however we classify it—can potentially be unhealthy in large amounts. Avocado is definitely a natural food, but if you choose to each 20 avocados every day you’re certainly not going to lose any weight. But most of us generally don’t get enough of these “health foods” in our diets every day.

For example, yesterday I decided to only eat like 4 of my Zone protein bars, some Greek yogurt and granola. Needless to say I desperately need to go grocery shopping. Calorie-wise, my day was great! I hit my 1200 calorie goal with no problem. Nutrition-wise, well… my day was lacking.

Do you ever feel like you need to strike from your “diet food?” Does your “diet food” make you feel deprived? Or do you feel that it helps you not feel deprived?

Kings and Queens of Reasoning

2011-01-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

It’s Sunday afternoon, and you’re still in your pajamas. It occurs to you that you should head to the gym at some point in the day. But you still have the house to tidy up and some laundry to throw in. Oh, and you were hoping to run to the grocery store, too. By the time you did that errand, it would be dinner time. And you had been pretty good with your eating so far in the day, so it was no big deal if you didn’t make it to the gym.

It’s so easy to reason away those things you’ve committed yourself to! I find reasoning far better than just making excuses. With excuses, at least you feel a little guilty for your decision. When you reason your way to a decision, there’s no guilt because you had perfectly good reasons!

But the scary thing is—I reasoned away my need to get to the gym for the entire month of December.

You can reason away your need to eat fewer calories. You can reason away your need to drink plenty of water. Saving your money. Working reasonable hours. Staying active. Our commitments and resolutions float away on a river of reasons.

The best way I have found to help fight the urge to reason is to make sure I have rules and routine in place. Every Monday I attend Body Attack and Fridays are Zumba nights. As a rule, I try to get to the gym at least four nights a week. On principle, I never schedule myself off days (because they seem to happen all on their own without me scheduling them). When you have a rule that can stop you in your reasoning tracks, or a sense of routine that prevents you from even getting to that point where you’re reasoning away your need.

How to you keep yourself on track? Do you find that once you start making reasons that it gets harder to get back on track? What do you do to not give yourself room for reasons?

Protein Bar Puzzle

2011-01-14T10:51:00.000-08:00

There’s a lot of talk out there over protein bars. They are touted as meal replacements, diet aids, snacks or nutrition supplements. So what should we do with them? How do you pick a good one? Do any good ones even exist, or do they all taste like Styrofoam?

I’m here to help! Protein bars can be a big part of weight loss and weight maintenance. You can use them as snacks or meal replacements. One thing protein bars are not: nutritional. It doesn’t matter how many vitamins they pack in them, a protein bar cannot replace vegetables and fruits—natural sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals. I often use protein bars to replace a breakfast when I know I don’t have time to put anything together or a snack when I know I’m going to be crazy busy at work.

When you’re choosing a protein bar, your choice is going to first be based on the nutritional facts and second on the taste. When you’re looking at the nutritional facts, what’s the most important number? Protein! That’s why it’s called a “Protein Bar!” You want there to be more grams of protein than fat. Ideally, there will be 10 grams of protein or more.

Since you’re already comparing your protein number to your fat number, you simply want to make sure there’s as little fat as possible. There should definitely be less fat than protein. Ideally, there will be 5 grams of fat or less.

The next number you’re looking for is carbs. When you start looking at the number of carbs in protein bars, you’re going to be in for a shock. For the most part, you don’t want any more than 25 grams of carbs. If more than 50 percent of those carbs is sugar, chances are that you’re not holding a protein bar in your hand. Say “hello” to the candy bar that snuck its way into that section with fancy words like “nutrition” and “all-natural.”

If you’re following the rules listed above, you’ll get a protein bar that’s between 150 and 200 calories.

I have a list here of bars that I have tried and that actually taste good!

Special K Protein Meal Bar (Strawberry)
170 Calories, 5g Fat, 25g Carb (15g Sugar), 10g Protein

Zone Perfect All-Natural Nutrition Bar (Double Dark Chocolate)
190 Calories, 6g Fat, 22g Carb (14g Sugar), 12g Protein

Luna Bar (Peanut Butter Cookie)
180 Calories, 6g Fat, 26g Carb (11g Sugar), 9g Protein

I’ve tried a lot of protein bars, and some of them are just disgusting! Have you tried any good ones? Any we should avoid? Were you surprised by the nutrition numbers on your own protein bar?

Year of the Happy Medium

2011-01-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

I guest posted on Healthy Living Blogs (a fantastic resource for all topics health related)! It’s my first guest cameo. I’ve giving a rundown of my New Year’s resolution. Check it out!

That Fleeting Good Feeling

2011-01-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

During my December eating extravaganza, I pretty much let myself eat anything I wanted to. I over-ate on several occasions, and I think about ninety percent of my eating was sugar. I was mostly aware of the choices I was making, but it just felt so good!

When it comes to sugar, I have a very real and very noticeable physical reaction. I feel good. I feel happy. And when that sugar leaves my body, I can feel that, too. I noticed how quickly my old cycle of sugar high to crash to sugar seeking became habit again. It’s so very similar to a drug addict seeking their next high.

But the high is never lasting. It was scary how quickly my body became used to the sugar again. I would look at a bowl of M&Ms and realize that it wouldn’t be enough to get that good feeling. I would want the cookies instead. I would add hot chocolate. I was eating constantly, but eventually, it wasn’t making a difference in how I felt.

And I didn’t feel energized like I normally do. I didn’t feel like I could go dancing or run around the block. I felt comatose. But gosh darn it—I “felt” good.

It’s interesting how our brains interpret these situations. Because the sugar was sending endorphins and opioids to my brain, I interpreted it as feeling good. But when I compared that feeling to my normal state, it wasn’t good. I didn’t like the way that I felt.

Have you had any moments like this? Moments when you realize that something you thought you desired wasn’t really anything you wanted?

Change It up!

2011-01-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

For me, one of the most sure fire ways to keep my workout routine consistent is to keep it fun and challenging. If you let boredom creep into your routine, every workout will become a fight to stay on track.

Many times we want to change up our habits, but all we do is move from the elliptical machine to the stair master. We’re afraid of leaving our comfort zone; we bore ourselves into failure! This year we’re going to be brave! We are going to do what we’ve never done!

If you’re one of those elliptical machine people (meaning, four days a week you put in your 30 minutes on the same machine), try a group class! There are plenty of cardio classes that would shock some fun into your schedule, as well as give you an opportunity to work a few other muscle groups. Zumba classes are everywhere. I love Les Mills classes—Body Attack, Body Combat and Sh’Bam.

If you’re one of those group class people (meaning, you only attend classes and hate to work out alone), grab a buddy or a trainer and do some strength training! You might have variety of muscle groups, but you probably don’t have the strength you could. You’ll see some gigantic men and women in the weight areas, but I promise they are very nice. Many are more than willing to help you find weights or give you a quick instructional on how to work a machine.

If you’re one of those weight lifting people (meaning, you only bulk up), try a martial arts class or the Les Mills Body Combat. You’ll find it will let you still work in some strength training (as well as make you feel like there’s a use to all those muscles now) while letting you build in some cardio to your schedule.

And finally, my running friends! If you’re one of those marathon freaks (meaning, you’re a marathon freak—you know who you are), try anything else! Many runners have very healthy hearts and keep their weight in check. The truth is you’re only working out one very small muscle group. Can you play a game of basket ball or jump on the trampoline with your kids? Can you help a friend move some furniture or climb a rock wall?

How are you going to change up your routine this year? What have you been dying to try but always been too afraid?

Brown-Bagging It

2011-01-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

My coworkers drive me insane. Everyone complains about their holiday weight gain; yet, everyday at lunch, everyone is asking what restaurant we want to go to. Every day it is “Who else wants Mexican?” or “Does anyone want Jimmy John’s?” or “Where are you going for lunch?” I swear I’m just going to start packing them all a lunch every day because I’m tired of it!

It’s tough being that one person brown-bagging it. But, when it comes down to it, I think my lunches look so much better than anyone else’s! And my lunches always range from 300 to 450 calories.

One of my favorites is Turkey Teriyaki. I guarantee you have left over turkey! Ladies, grab about 4-5 ounces of turkey; guys will probably want 5-6 ounces. Don’t smother your turkey in teriyaki sauce—measure yourself a serving and keep it on the side. If you dip your turkey into it, you’re going to eat much less sauce but still get plenty of flavor. I’ll often take one of those Steam Fresh bags of broccoli and then add a piece of fruit.

A lot of people think you need to eat nothing but salad in order to lose weight. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll notice a significant lack of salads. However! Here’s my favorite salad! Start with some spring greens or spinach. Add a few slices of grapefruit and tangerines. Top it off with a small slice of grilled salmon (grill the night before and eat it cold, it’s delicious)! The flavor combination is fantastic, and you’ll be getting some heart healthy fats into your diet.

Do you ever get to lunch time and just want something sweet? Kashi makes some fantastic high protein and high fiber cereals. I like the Almond Flax Crunch because it’s sweetened just enough (and I love Almonds). Take a cup of cereal and add to a cup of Chobani Greek Yogurt. They have great flavors—I just tried the pomegranate today, but my favorite is the peach! They have fat free and 2% options. It’s a quick way to get a good amount of protein and satisfy that sweet tooth.

Got any good brown bag ideas? Seen anyone else bring in the kind of packed lunch that makes you wish you hadn’t gone out?

Creative Resolutions

2011-01-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately—everyone is on one of two wagons: the Weight-Loss-Resolution Wagon or the Resolutions-Don’t-Help-Anyone Wagon. But I’ve been seeing a lot of really creative resolutions!

Vicky, my oh-so-sexy Body Attack instructor, is committing to drinking more water. A friend of mine is going to give another shot at quitting smoking. My husband hasn’t explicity said so, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to try his darnedest to cut soda out of his day. Great resolutions that make big steps toward making their lives healthier.

Here are a few more creative resolutions I’ve seen:

I will not compare myself to other people. I will be content with myself, my home and my possessions.
I will not be so busy that I do not have spare moments for myself or anyone else. I will make sure to leave margins in my schedule.
I will read 30 books in 2011 (and magazines don’t count but graphic novels totally do).
I will not acquire any new debt in 2011.
I will not eat any fast food. I will either eat at home or be discerning with the places I do choose to eat out at.

Some of these creative resolutions could potentially have a greater impact on your life (and your weight) than simply a resolution to lose weight. Have you seen any other interesting resolutions? Have you thought about adjusting your own resolutions?

Your Beginning!

2011-01-03T21:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2011! The holidays are behind us, and we’re staring down a fresh start. I love a clean slate! And I don’t care who you are—we all need a clean slate right now. Whether you’re a size 2 or a 26, you’re a couple pounds heavier than you were at the beginning of October.

So here we are armed with our resolutions. We’re ready to go! We’re committed! And we’ve been here before…

Anyone remember their 2010 resolutions?

This year, we’re going to do some reflection over our resolutions and set ourselves up for success!

1) Is my resolution too lofty? I didn’t want to ask if it was “realistic” or “attainable.” If your resolution is to lose 100 pounds, you can and are capable of doing that. But when you set your first goal too high, you guarantee yourself a struggle in reaching it. Make your goal easy! Set yourself to lose 5 pounds. You’ll reach it quickly and can set your next goal at 10 pounds. Give yourself room for momentum.

2) Is my resolution really my goal? Do you really want to lose 5 pounds, or do you want to feel better about yourself? Maybe your goal is really to feel physically fit or to be able to run up the stairs without being winded. All these goals have very different ways of getting there. And you may work at your resolution, but never feel the happiness you could if you actually accomplish your real goal.

3) Can I see myself achieving my resolution? If you can’t visualize it, you’ll never get there. We don’t realize how much we hold ourselves back! When you reach your goal, it may be completely different from how you even imagined (I could never have truly imagined my life as it is now). But you need to be able to see yourself reaching that finish line—the subconscious knowledge that you can and will.

What are your resolutions? Do you plan on adjusting your resolution at all? January 3 isn’t too late to do a little midcourse correction. Share your resolution and book mark this page—visit back to remind yourself of your real goals.

Surviving the Holidays - Part 3

2010-12-21T09:09:00.000-08:00

The holiday season has been absolutely nuts, but I have friends here to help! Vicky, my lovely Body Attack instructor, is guest blogging for us today! Vicky had her own weight loss journey that keeps all of us Body Attackers truly inspired. She's there every Monday keeping me motivated and determined.

__________________

The holiday season is upon us and, along with the delight of decorating, shopping and parties, comes stress and bad habits. How do we survive without having that huge regret in January?

First of all, stress! There is nothing better to help beat the stress than a good workout. I know it’s dark, wet and cold. But taking the time a few times a week to head to the gym, getting a dose of Endorphins, and running around will really help manage the stress and help, of course, keep control of those calories.

As for food, this is a very tough time for us all. We are running about, grabbing anything we can or attending Holiday parties and dinners. So a few tips that may help are:

1) Drink a large glass of water before mealtimes or snacks. This will help with the feeling of fullness and especially when wanting to snack. It really determines whether it’s food you need or not just hydrating.

2) When plating up a meal, try to think of this: put a protein no bigger than the palm of your hand on your plate, along with either one fistful of carbs like potatoes or squash or 2 fistfuls of complex carbs such as leafy greens. Add in 1 to 2 thumb-sized amounts of good fats (not saturated) such as olive oil or most nuts. Easy to remember and helps portion control.

3) Log your food. I use DotFit.com, but even just writing down a list each day of all the items you eat WILL make you think twice before eating them. It is proven—those who log their food each day are much more likely to achieve weight loss than those who don’t.

4) Find a workout buddy! We all need a little push every now and again. Sometimes it is hard to find the motivation, so find a friend eager to lose weight, get fit or generally stay active. And make each other accountable. Tell them you will meet them every Monday night at the gym for example, or lunchtime walk or jog date.

I hope some of these things will help you to start the New Year with a healthy mind and body. This is your life so grab it with both hands and LIVE IT, strongly!

Surviving the Holidays – Part 2

2010-12-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

Avoiding holiday weight gain means more than just watching what you eat. There are a lot of other factors that can affect how your body holds on to fat cells during the holiday season.

Stress – The holiday season can be crazy stressful. Even if it’s a season you enjoy, we’re traveling, seeing family, or just out of our normal routine. When you are stressed out, your body responds to that stress physically and emotionally. Our brains often stimulate us to ease these kinds of stress through food. Make sure to take time for yourself or set aside time specifically for relaxing. When we’re visiting family, my husband—a chronic introvert—wakes up in the morning but doesn’t immediately join everyone. He takes about 30 to 60 minutes to read or play a game on his DS (making him much more enjoyable later on!).

Sleep – Some people get to sleep in a lot during the holidays. These are usually the people who are not in charge of cooking. And if you have children, I doubt you’re sleeping a minute past 7am on Christmas day. We’ve discussed previously what a lack of sleep does to your chemical balance. On top of the chemical reactions, it’s quite hard to make good food decisions when you’re battling fatigue as well. Spending time with family is important, but make sure to keep your health a top priority.

Activity – Keeping active during the holidays can seem challenging, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be! Visit with your siblings during a walk around the block. Or challenge family to some Wii or Kinect games. Grab some boys and go play football. I know I’m planning a girls’ day out with my mother, sister and someday-sister-in-law that will begin with a step class and end with some shopping!

Drink Water – This suggestion might surprise you, but this is an important one for me. Even after over a year of being active and improving my health, I still have the hardest time getting my body to interpret my thirst. I still misread my thirst as hunger and end up eating when I don’t need to. Not only will drinking plenty of water help keep you hydrated, but it’s a great way to help fend off cravings!

Do you have any other tips that have worked for you?

The Diet Doesn’t Matter

2010-12-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

When I use the word “diet,” I mean the food and beverages I eat daily. However, when most people hear the word “diet,” they think of a set of restrictive rules around what you eat daily with the goal of losing weight. I am not on a diet, but I discuss my diet regularly on this blog.

Still with me?

I watched an interview with this guy who purposefully built junk food into his daily diet, and managed to lose 15 pounds. This is totally worth the watch! He’s a nutritionist who wanted to start a debate around health, weight loss and how the kind of food we eat really affects our bodies. He ate junk food, but only ate 1800 calories (keeping his physical activity the same). As it turned out, he lost 15 pounds; his bad cholesterol went down and good cholesterol went up; his blood sugar level also went down.

“What’s this have to do with the holidays?” you ask.

We’re in the middle of the time of year where there is nothing but junk food or high caloric foods as far as the eye can see. Comfort food and desserts and drinks! The point is—if you’re really determined to not gain any weight over the holidays—you can still eat all of the foods you love. If you’re watching your calories, you can literally eat your Christmas dinner and lose weight. Just because you’re eating calorically dense foods, it doesn’t mean you will gain weight.

Now, you’re definitely not going to be able to eat much of those foods. Twinkie Diet Guy did not sit down with a platter of Twinkies for every meal. He probably got like one. But I think we convince ourselves that there is nothing we can do about gaining weight through the holidays. Our culture tells us that it’s normal, it’s expected. But it’s not. You are not helpless nor a victim to holiday weight gain.

Do you find yourself slipping into this mentality? How do you think it affects your decisions? How do you pull yourself out of that thinking?

Surviving the Holidays - Part 1

2010-12-03T11:40:00.000-08:00

We’re starting off our December series on surviving the holidays and temptation with a few tips and tricks! These are strategies I use, or my friends use, or suggestions I’ve received from people.

Eat Your Veggies! Even if you’re not tracking anything you’re eating, counting calories, or using any other strategies—if you’re eating eight servings of vegetables in your day, you won’t have as much room for other junk. It’s easy during the holidays to find vegetables smothered in fat and sugar, but there are plenty of good recopies that can keep vegetables calorically simple. If you’re loading up on low cal healthy foods, you’ll be less hungry which makes resisting temptation much easier.

Eat Right Part Time! My counselor had recommended during my Christmas vacation last year to commit to eating at least two meals each day well. If I knew I was doing brunch with the family, then commit to eating a small but healthy lunch and dinner. This always made me feel pretty good! Even if I was feeling a little guilty over the one meal, I could think “at least I did well on the other two!”

Enjoy the Good Stuff! My friend Katie reminded me of a great philosophy I used to use daily. If you’re staring at a bowl of chips, it’s easy to tell yourself “I can have these any time. If want chips next week, I could go buy them.” If you’re going to indulge, aim for foods that you can’t have that often (like Katie’s homemade sugar cookies!). It makes passing up on some treats easier.

Have a Plan! You all know I’m a planner. Even if you get to a party and suddenly realize your plan flew out the window, you at least started off as well as you possibly could. And you always run the chance that your plan will actually work! Lately, I’ve found myself assuming my plans will fall through, so it ends up being a little self-fulfilling prophecy. I need to start letting my plans work the way that they should, but not feeling too guilty when they do fall through.

How do you survive temptation? How do you arm yourself to avoid overeating or overcoming temptations?

Three and a Half Weeks

2010-11-29T11:41:00.000-08:00

Ho boy, Thanksgiving is over! I had great intentions of posting regularly though the holiday, but Seattle was hit with a crazy snow storm (yes, it probably wasn’t even an inch of snow) and then vacation just sounded too good. But here I am again, and not too worse for the wear.

Since this is actually my first holiday season since losing 95 pounds, it’s been a time of learning! I haven’t quite known what to expect of both my decisions and reactions to food this season. I started off Halloween with a plan, but I lost track of the plan quickly. There were literally moments when I had food in my hand and didn’t know where it came from. It’s not that the food leaped into my mouth of its own accord, but more that I would be chewing something delicious and realize “I never made the choice to eat that.” It was like my brain was on auto pilot (with what I know of how brain chemistry and food works, I can understand how it happens). I wasn’t making decisions—whether bad or good—to eat or not eat food. I was just going on instinct. And my instincts notoriously cannot be trusted.

So, what’s my strategy? There are three and a half weeks until Christmas, and I’ll be in weight-lost mode during that time. I’m several pounds over my ceiling weight—that number that is supposed to be my “stop in your tracks and do a U turn” weight. I’m determined to at least get back into my normal weight range before Christmas, and I think that’s doable. However, I’m going to need to come up with some solid strategies and plans for Christmas. I’ll be traveling on top of all the holiday traditions.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll have tips and strategies on surviving the holidays (as well as hopefully a few guest bloggers). In the meantime, any tips you want to share? What’s worked for you? What hasn’t worked?

The Distraction Box

2010-11-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

So we’re back to discussing cravings! I read the greatest idea this week—it’s called a Distraction Box:

Make yourself a "distraction box" in which you put lists of activities that are highly distracting to you (e.g., friends to call or e-mail, Web sites to visit, computer games you like to play, chores that need to be done) and objects you can use to distract yourself (a word puzzle book, a favorite DVD or CD -- if they're distracting enough -- a catalog, etc.) For women, an excellent addition to the box is a bottle of nail polish. By the time your nails dry, your craving will be gone (full article here, but the rest of it isn’t that good).

I loved this idea! I’m totally making myself a box tonight, and I’m making a list of things I plan on putting inside (yes, this is what I’m doing at work):

· One of those books on my shelf that I’m always meaning to start reading.

· My notebook where I work on my writing.

· My To Do List (a few chores as well as errands)

· Card making supplies (I’m a crafty kind of gal and I love rubber stamping)

My list was good, but this is definitely a box that’s really only useful at home. What about work? That’s mostly where my cravings happen. I can’t really have a box of distractions for work. So I’m creating a Word doc to keep on my computer at work:

· List of my favorite and inspirational blogs (these are usually quick reads and very encouraging)

· List of my favorite workout songs (when I listen to my work out music, I find all food cravings disappear to make room for my craving for a good work out)

· The people at work and on my instant messenger that I like to talk with (conversation is always a distraction for me)

· A Before photo of myself (I love fat pictures! They’re so inspiring!)

What do you think? What would you put in your box? Any other good ideas for work? That’s my hot zone, so I need distractions a plenty sometimes!