We are serving up some previously published articles for you to feast on this week, while our family is on spring break.1
Goodbye, winter!
Hello, flowers in Victoria, Canada! Enjoy some of this site’s top articles from around this time last year.2 And may these articles help you stride confidently through life!
This article will outline how you, too, can learn to begin to LOVE practicing healthy habits OR if not, how to at least delude yourself into thinking you enjoy healthy habits! Anyway, what’s the difference between loving healthier habits and deluding yourself that you love healthier habits? But more about deluding ourselves successfully another time!
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
Today, we’ll start by understanding what motivates us to practice healthier eating and exercise habits. I’m actually the kind of person, for example, who hates it when people tell me what to do. I figured this out one afternoon when I was frothing at the mouth and making myself some tea.
Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)
“How dare THEY tell ME when to drink this tea?”, I thought, fuming. “I’ll drink it in the afternoon instead, just to spite them!” The tea was called English BREAKFAST tea. BREAKFAST. I guess you’re supposed to drink it at BREAKFAST.
Maybe this is an item I should get counselling for, too, but my hard-working counsellor hasn’t gotten this far down the list of priority items yet.
I know I could have been, actually, a lot more successful in life if I had taken people’s advice a little more easily. You can check out my daughter’s blog for that. For example, in one of her articles, she mentions some stuff she learned from me!
I’m sure she’ll go far (because it’s ME who told her stuff).
Wait: THE POINT was that we are humble enough to receive advice from others. Same thing! Anyway, we are who we are.
I know myself, and if someone tells ME to do or not do something, even if it’s myself telling me to choose healthier habits, I’ll probably want to kill them or me. Take your pick. No, we need another method than simply muscling through and doing stuff we hate.
Here’s the trick to learning to LOVE to implement healthier habits: Know, think about, meditate on your BIG, HUGE “Why?”
Why should you implement healthier habits?
The caring about how you look in a bathing suit when a massive slice of chocolate cake is calling your name stops mattering after middle school. That “Why?” won’t cut it.
How about a few more years in your own home, rather than an old folks’ home? That’s a goal to light a bit of a fire behind our butts, still in bed, scrolling on our phones.
There are good reasons to get up and to get to the gym or outside for some heart-pumping exercise. And if we can get there, our identity changes a bit, making it MUCH easier to implement your next healthy habit. But more on that next time.
I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. . . . easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites. But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven!
Pull up a chair and laugh WITH (Wait – AT?!) us, friend!
As clearly and thoroughly elaborated in THIS ARTICLE, I require an EXCESSIVE amount of time this holiday season skiing and soaking in a hot tub.
However, given that some of you in the over fifty countries1 who read this drivel (no-STUFF!) can barely function without my constant wisdom flooding your inbox, I will be posting some of our previous Christmas letters here to help you through this season with adequate wisdom and insight to complete the bare minimum of your Christmas activities.
You’re welcome!
Good luck!
We enjoy publishing a letter and sending it to all our friends and family for the Holidays.
Putting lots of chickens into a cage, cutting off their beaks, and letting them defecate on each other for their entire caged lives because we prefer our chicken sandwich to cost $1.99 instead of $2.56 has, at times, been my church culture.
This financial choice is a particular “church culture”, not “Kingdom living”.
Kingdom living says:
Good people are good to their animals; the “good-hearted” bad people kick and abuse them.
And so we dig deeper into our pockets, where it hurts, and place more coins on the counter for our lunch. OR heaven forbid, we eat a few more vegetables instead of another chicken sandwich because it’s cheaper than another piece of chicken, considering the actual cost of paying for cage-free birds.
This example is an aspect of a church culture (a common behavior) that I experienced many years ago, which I find frustrating.
Some of the very wise, and my heart goes out to you, dear friend, say, “That is not a healthy place,” and do not return to church. I do not blame you. I believe God does not blame you . . .
. . . though He is still pursuing you, dear friend.
Keep looking.
There are safe places to rest. But it might take a bit of seeking. And God will be (Sneakily!1) healing you as you seek a safe group of Jesus-seeking people to belong to. Who you started as won’t be the same person as who you end up as, which is half the joy of the process, actually.
And there will still be annoying parts of church culture to correct, no matter where you call home.
Been disgusted by Christian culture, or church culture, lately? I have too. Jesus was, too. His harshest comments were for the leaders of His church.
Ouch.
May our rears be sore from the spanking that Jesus gives us because it is better to have a sore rear than for our entire selves to be oozing pus from our unhealed diseases – the diseases of pride, love of money, prestige- that we are too proud to ask Jesus to heal.
However, within the mess and the brokenness of Christian culture, in pockets of beauty, is the joy of Christ’s message, called Kingdom living.
Thank you, Lord, for loving the mess that is your church, the mess that is me. Thank you that even here, in the charred remains of my heart, there lies an ember of love that you can fan into flame. Do your good work, dear Jesus. We pray to help us become Kingdom people, not merely robots of Christian culture.
Help those rightly offended by Christian culture to find a home in You, and with other broken people that You also (of course) love, we pray.
And friend, as you grow, learn, talk, and ask God (heaven forbid) for His perspective that is a BIT higher than ours, may you get a bit happier, too, as clearly proven HERE!
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! Let’s journey together!
1Oh. And a caveat about this approach is that you must be prepared for… clearing throat… you may be WRONG about ONE of the ideas you hold so dearly. For example, I am listening to a course on Food Ethics, and they are messing with my dogma. That’s when you MAY need some humility, BUT that is a later lesson, and I haven’t found any need to grow in that discipline yet.
We enjoy publishing a letter and sending it to all our friends and family for the Holidays.
In this letter, we tell you some of the embarrassing things they (the other family members and friends) said last year!
(Yes, I take notes on what my friends and family say all year, JUST for this express purpose!)
For some reason, however, not many people talk to me much at the beginning of each year, and they seem a bit sulky. But don’t worry – it doesn’t last long!
I was looking at my husband with tears filling my eyes after I opened a glimpse of pain deep within my heart.
Andy looked back at me and . . . smirked (!)
Me: “Why are you smirking!?”
Andy: “I think you’re just PMS-ing.”
Andy laughs.
I realize he’s probably right and think, “You know you’ve been married a long time when…”
While driving to the ski hill:
Me to Andy: “Why don’t we drop off our ski boots first this time and then…” etc.
Andy: “But I always do it the same way!”
I thought, “Well, I guess that topic has now been exhausted for all time!”
I can sense a compliment coming. I wait in eager anticipation:
Andy: “Thank you for being so… nice.”
Me: (!!!)
On Homeschooling
The perils of playing board games with homeschooled kids:
I borrowed a board game from the library based on the movie “Dune.” We recently watched the movie together as a family.
Kyah: “I can’t play that board game!” she announced, frustrated.
Me: “Why?”
Kyah: “I haven’t finished reading the book yet!”
Me: “Maybe you want to play squash with me sometime, Kyah?”
Kyah: “Well, I don’t know. I’m pretty aggressive…” (Even though the wind blows her over sometimes)
Kyah continued, “And I also have martial arts, so I’m pretty busy…”
Kyah: “But I love you so… Yeah, sure.”
On Choosing Healthy Food
Andy called me when he was out buying groceries from the list I wrote for him:
Andy: “So when it says, ‘soy sauce,’ do you mean… ?” He lists 10 related items and brands.
Me: “No, when I say ‘soy sauce,’ I mean the stuff that isn’t actually soy sauce. It says ‘liquid aminos’ or something like that on the bottle.”
Andy: “Oh, ok.”
Andy: “When it says ‘noodles- mushroom’, what kind of noodles are those?”
Me: “Those are the ones that aren’t actually noodles. They just look like noodles. They’re long and thin. They’re in the mushroom section. I don’t know what they’re called.”
Etc.
Etc.
Me: “I feel better because I fasted and prayed today. It gives me hope.”
Andy: “I didn’t fast, but I did have a chicken salad sandwich from X restaurant today, so . . . that probably counts.”
Me: (?) “And why is that?”
Andy: “Because it’s not very good! I didn’t have lunch from Y restaurant!”
So, “fasting” for Andy means eating out at a lower-star-eating establishment. Well, we all start somewhere!
I offered our friend a chocolate chip cookie. She excitedly stretched out her hand to take one, but then a look of horror came over her face, and her hand hovered above the plate mid-air.
She asked with increasing trepidation, “Wait. These don’t have black beans or something like that in them again, do they?!”
Happy New Year, friends.
(May you laugh much at your ridiculousness in the coming year, too!)
Just because the battle of [insert famous battle name here – I’m not a Historian, ok?] was lost, doesn’t mean those soldiers lost the war too!
The same is true in the war that many in our culture are fighting to open our eyes to the reality that climate change is real.
We’ve lost a battle or two, granted.
For example, consider the implementation of climate solutions and the recent US election. I am not a Harris supporter by any stretch of the imagination. (Also, I’m Canadian, so no one cares who I would have voted for. AND, it’s much easier to criticize leaders trying to create positive change than to come up with real solutions that work!)
The point is that we lost another battle in the war against recognizing that climate change is even a “thing” with the election win of Mr. Trump.
But just because climate change has lost another battle, that doesn’t mean we have lost the war in finding a solution to our climate woes – Not by any stretch.
It is time to close the chapter in the book “Let’s talk about climate change rationally, using science.”
Instead, let’s focus on applying and implementing this one solution.
Let’s focus on food.
No, I did not leave my rationale mind over there as I wrote this post over here.
Check out this free movie, Kiss the Ground Film | Official Website
A Hollywood Actor narrates the movie, so that’s how we know it is the truth!
Just kidding – There is LOTS of science here and a growing movement.
“Kiss the Ground is an audience-supported nonprofit promoting regeneration and healthy soil as a viable solution for our wellness, water, and climate crisis. Since 2013, we’ve inspired millions to participate in the Regenerative Movement through storytelling, education and partnerships.”
Oh, and another benefit – when you put less poison in the form of hyper-processed foods into your body and recognize food ITSELF is healing, you’ll probably feel a lot better, too!
There is a movement of people who have started to be accidentally healed of various modern ailments through eating healthier foods, but we’ll talk about that another time.
Oh, and we can avert the climate crisis once this movement snowballs, too, without mentioning the term “climate change.”
The thing is (whisper):
God has a solution to EVERY problem we see in our world.
We have hope! Let’s dance! No problem is too big for our God.
As the song below plays, ask God, “Has my hope been reduced to the size of politics or the problems in my life and our world? Forgive me. Would You help me place my hope in the One who is bigger than every problem?”
“If . . . my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I’m alert day and night to the prayers offered . . . “
She was a shell. She was skinny, sickly, and often lost in her little world.
Her stomach racked her in pain. Friends were elusive. She was unhappy, never having exploded in childhood giggles that should have been her right.
My husband and I oscillated between worry and confidence that she would grow out of “this.” One of us, either he or I, carried the ball of fear for this child. The ball never went away.
Occupational and physical therapists dribbled through our home – in and out – like a constant stream, reminding us that something wasn’t quite “right.” The ball of concern for our child, which we took turns carrying, grew heavier.
Doctors punctuated our lives.
An exclamation point with a specialist doctor in September. A question mark with that prominent city specialist who visited in April. The regular full stops of our home doctor, where “many” childhood milestones were missed, again, were a part of the regular background noise.
The cloud of “something” felt suffocating.
It was hard to breathe.
And doctors get so concerned nowadays. Our other daughter was told she “might” have a problem detectable only by modern medicine (pulmonary stenosis!), and yet that asymptomatic “problem” mysteriously resolved itself only a few years later.
“Would the same thing happen with this other daughter?” I wondered on the days when my husband carried our ball of worry.
And then it happened.
God’s voice was carried by the wind of the Spirit that day as I chatted with a friend about her struggling child.
“Try it.”
What now? I looked around, wondering if I had heard right. My heart sensed my Father’s love for me and my daughter as He spoke. Was I imagining things, though?
“Could you repeat that?” I asked
Nothing. Stillness. Quiet.
Had I heard correctly?
I had been learning that God speaks when we remember to attach our spiritual ears. I bent down to look for my spiritual ears which seemed to have fallen off again. Had He spoken?
At the moment that I wondered if God was nudging me, my good friend had been talking about a special diet – Yes, a special diet – that she was preparing for her son, who had developmental delays.
Diet?
But that’s not what the specialists EVER recommended!
But that was what was working for him. I felt God was asking me to try this same approach. Would I obey?
And so, how are we led on God’s specific, chosen path for our lives and families that usher in His healing?
We pick up our spiritual ears and attach them to our heads. Oh! There are your spiritual ears lying next to you on the ground! Shall we learn how to use them?
We do what God says.
That’s it.
And oh – our daughter was healed. But that’s a story for another time.
By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. . . . As a result, Noah became intimate with God.
An additional fun result of following Jesus where He leads is buried within the quote above if our eyes are open – Intimacy with God! Wow.
As the song below plays, ask Holy Spirit, “What is the ONE NEXT step, or person you want me to ask advice from, regarding this problem in my life that is literally burning a hole in my gut?”
God:
Help us look for our ears, re-attach them so they stick, and pick them up again when they fall off.
May our hearts be strengthened by knowing how You delight in watching us take our baby steps toward You.
Help us to drink a bigger glass of the gift of Your love, which often carries healing for our bodies, minds and spirits.
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I was shocked when the notification blared its announcement.
I was in the top 3% of users of a new nutrition app I was using.
The TOP 3%.
Everyone else (or 97% of people – whatever! – stay with me!) had already given up.
Now, I have to back up a bit to explain.
As you know, and have been forever changed by, I wrote a riveting blog post series last fall on weight loss. (To my editor: Why DIDN’T anyone read those posts, anyway?)
I have been (more or less) within the healthy weight range (basically – okay!) for my entire life, which has been no small feat.
However, when following my advice failed me, I decided to switch it up and buy a nutrition app. Truthfully, I am constantly trying new approaches and programs and learning a bit more about implementing healthy habits, which is the point of this post. But I’m not talking about that right now.
I’m talking about the notification that startled me.
I thought I was the ultimate failure in using this nutrition app. Check this out. The photo below is an actual graph of my progress over two months, showing NO improvement in achieving my ideal weight.
None.
There are normal fluctuations, but the graph of this line is flat.
Same, same, samers.
I immediately unsubscribed to the “encouragement” texts accompanying this app because so many people complained in a way I could not comprehend.
“I only lost 5 pounds this month!” they would complain.
Huh?
I hadn’t lost anything, so I could not relate.
But I kept going with the program.
And the results EVENTUALLY paid off. EVENTUALLY. I lost 10 pounds recently and feel a lot better.
And I believe the results would have also paid off for many, many other app users.
If only they kept trying.
And now, we’ll switch gears to talk about God, but it’s not changing gears, because the concept is the same.
MOST PEOPLE GIVE UP TOO SOON IN THEIR SEARCH FOR GOD
Is it annoying people that keep you away from your search for God? Get over them! (Get over yourself too, but that’s for when you are MUCH more spiritually sanctified and you realize that you are a loser too!)
Is God distant, just out of reach? You’re on the right path. God hides Himself as a critical component of his character.
He is not a dictator, shouting orders and wanting us to go off somewhere and obey every minute detail of his complicated directives. He longs to walk WITH us on this journey we call life. He wants us to WANT to want Him.
And so, right now, He is bending down low but right next to you. Will you reach out, tag his back, and say, “Gotcha!”
Will you seek Him?
If we don’t give up, even though most people do, and keep walking forward, following where we last saw his footsteps and carving out time in our busy day to sit with Him, unhurried, if we read his word, and ask others what it means even when we don’t understand it, then we will find God.
He’s waiting for you right now, holding out His hand to you.
And so, what is the one valuable ingredient to lose weight and find God?
Perseverance.
There’s more to come . . . keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.
Hunger for Jesus attracts the manifest (felt) presence of His Spirit. Does your hunger for God outweigh your discouragement? He’ll help you up, point you in a new direction, lighten the weight on your feet, help you soar.
Don’t give up just before your breakthrough, friend.
It seemed that God wasn’t finished speaking to this clerk at Tim Hortons yet, but I had some pressing paperwork to do. Would I trust Him to interrupt my more essential tasks again? Was I too busy?
My bagel was burned.
I could eat a bagel, slightly dark at the edges. Tell them it seemed God may have been saying. Really?
I already had one interaction where God somehow fed this young man a crumb.
Why did I have to ruin it by criticizing the food? I obeyed, and co-incidentally, perhaps, it was the same young man whose turn it was to speak to me. Several others were working the till.
I showed him my bagel and explained that I recently learned that burned food contains carcinogens, substances capable of causing cancer.
I apologized for the nuisance. “Maybe I should come to you for advice,” the clerk called loudly across the restaurant, as I walked away. I smiled.
He thinks he is drawn to me, but he is drawn to You in me.
May he learn the difference.
As I was about to leave, I thought the Lord said to buy another coffee. But I didn’t want another coffee! “Maybe my life is not entirely about what I want,” I reminded myself.
I stood in line.
Clerks were running everywhere, and many different people were taking orders. Again, I wasn’t surprised when I got the same clerk because this felt like a God appointment. Ask him about his church, God seemed to nudge as I ordered coffee.
“Hey, you said you are a Christian. Have you found a good group of people at a church around here to belong to?”
I wasn’t surprised when he said no. Theology that revolved around the type and frequency of product he smoked, the topic of our earlier conversation, didn’t seem completely orthodox. “Even though my mom is an atheist, I used to go to church. But I don’t have a ride right now,” he said as he gave me my change.
Again, a nudge from the Lord.
Do you have a car? God seemed to ask me, tongue in cheek. I offered him a ride to our thriving church. He declined, and I presumed there were deeper reasons why He wasn’t in a church community.
I walked away, carrying a bagel I was too full to eat.
Use me, Lord. There is so much food here at Your table. I pray this young man’s hunger pains will be satisfied one day.
May he truly know he is accepted and thus seek his next step in a relationship with You and other believers.
May he find another who can lead him to the feast.
Teach us more clearly to scatter a bounty of crumbs from Your voice, and with Your love, we pray.
Restoring Life 