Walk with

I'd rather see a sermon

than hear one any day,
I'd rather one should walk with me
than merely tell the way.

-Edgar Guest (poet, 1881-1959)

Photo from our last 'family' gathering 2/18/08

(missing Seth and Lea as it's too far to trek from Madison
for a birthday supper on a weeknight!)

That's what I aim for: to BE, not talk a 'sermon'; to WALK WITH, not just tell the way. I think of family and all the opportunities to walk with and be example for, and I am hugely grateful: for them and that, and for their grace and love for me. What a gift it is, along the way, to be loved and to love.

Protein satiates

So, you want to know some protein sources for breakfast? You got it. My favorite is eggs, but there's also peanut butter (on toast, pancakes, sweet rolls; from a spoon, fork, or finger...), nuts, yogurt, beans, cheese, milk, meat/poultry/fish.

"Based on several new studies, eggs may be back on the breakfast menu too! Healthy adults (with no history of diabetes) can enjoy one to two eggs per day without increasing their blood cholesterol or triglyceride levels. People who eat protein, like eggs, for breakfast tend to eat fewer calories during the day and to maintain a healthier weight. They also report feeling more energetic than those who just eat carbohydrates, like a pastry, some toast, or bagel."
[http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/newsevents/newsreleases2008/february/Breakfast.shtml]

Protein is more satiating than carbohydrate, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (83, 2:211-20, 2006). [http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com/hotnews/62h2291829.html]

Here's some yummy breakfast suggestions that include most major food groups: microwave a quesadilla on a whole wheat tortilla with black beans or enjoy a tofu (I'd substitute egg!) scrambler with chopped veggies and grated cheese.

(Photo 'borrowed' from ashtangiscook.blogspot.com/; with thanks!)

Most Americans - 80 to 90 percent in national surveys - believe that eating breakfast is a healthy habit. “However, only 40 to 50 percent of adults are actually eating breakfast on a regular basis,” says Jessica Grennan (state health alliances director for the American Heart Association in Montana). [http://www.dphhs.mt.govnewsevents/newsreleases2008/february/Breakfast.shtml]

Wanna join the minority of adults that actually do eat breakfast? Call me, maybe we can break a fast together.

Break a fast

I love breakfast. Most mornings I have an egg, a few bites of whole grain cereal with milk, and some juice. Oh yah, some dirt too (the AZOMITE dirt I mentioned early on in this blog). I like telling people, especially my kids, about how good it is to have protein at start of day, and about the importance of eating breakfast. So here goes - for at least a couple of blog entries --

At the 2003 American Heart Association conference it was reported that people who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and diabetic than those who usually don’t.

In their study, researchers found that obesity and insulin resistance syndrome rates were 35 percent to 50 percent lower among people who ate breakfast every day compared to those who frequently skipped it.

“Our results suggest that breakfast may really be the most important meal of the day,” says Mark A. Pereira, Ph.D., a research associate at Children’s Hospital in Boston and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “It appears that breakfast may play an important role in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.” [http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3009715]

All light

My life is too much about me. I find it helpful to occasionally do some focusing on self so as to understand my thoughts and ways and be better able to move beyond self-centeredness. Regrettably though, I often carry self-focus too far. So, I am appreciative of these words from desert fathers: they remind that my best focus is on God, and my ultimate hope is to be all light.

"Blessed Anthony, the man acknowledged to be the first monk, used to say:

“That is not a perfect prayer wherein the monk is conscious either of himself or the content of his prayer” (Cassian, Conference 9:31:1).

And then there is the delightful story from the desert tradition:

“Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and said: 'Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and according as I am able I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts; now what more should I do?' The elder rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: 'Why not become all light, all fire?' (Desert Fathers: LXXII)"
[http://www.mepkinabbey.org/ChapterVerse3/chapter_technique.htm]

How might you and I be fire in our moments this day?

Eclipsed

Wednesday night there was a complete lunar eclipse. I watched in dark and silence and warmth (mostly viewing from inside the house but for a few forays outside to attempt a photo) and got to thinking about my name. Diane comes from Diana, goddess of the moon, and a Christianized version of the meaning of the name is “in God’s glory”; to me it has to do with reflecting the light of God, like the moon reflects the sun's light. I desire to reflect God. What I really want even more than to reflect is to radiate His light, having the presence of God so bright within that it shines out.

But like the moon in the Earth’s shadow, I tend to not only - not radiate- but also to barely even reflect; I am oft in shadow, behind an ‘earth’ that gets between me and the sun/Son. That ‘earth’ most often is me.

Coincidentally, more accurately might I say providentially, also last night I read these words in Blue Like Jazz,

“The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me… No rut in the mind is so deep as the one that says I am the world, the world belongs to me, all people are characters in my play. There is no addiction so powerful as self-addiction.”
- donald miller

Ouff, it is too true of me. I lose the white brilliance of Light’s rays: self-focus is my world that causes shadow. Thankfully, even when I get in the way, God still does a beautiful thing. Like the red coloring of the moon caused by the sunlight passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, so God curves around the obstacle of me. Instead of leaving me in total darkness, He colors me.

...even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. - Psalm 139:12 (NIV)

[The beautiful photo above is kindly shared by Thomas Knoblauch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Thomas_Knoblauch_-_Lunar_Eclipse_small-43img_%28pd%29.gif#file]

Divine joy

"From God's perspective, one hidden act of repentance, one little gesture of selfless love, one moment of true forgiveness is all that is needed to bring God from his throne to run to his returning son and to fill the heavens with sounds of divine joy."
-- Henri Nouwen
The Return of the Prodigal Son - A Story of Homecoming

I still have much to learn of the love of God. What I've experienced thus far is barely a glimpse of the enormous sea of tender affection from God's heart. Today I was reminded again of the value of telling myself the truth, and doing so regularly. To move toward ever-increasing wellness, I hope to daily repeat a couple of affirmative statements declaring the truth of God's love.

...you are precious and honored in my sight, and I love you...
Isaiah 43:4a (NIV)

The Lord your God is with you... He will take great delight in you... he will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

Same kind of life

As I mentioned before, authenticity is a core value of mine, so a story that Donald Miller tells in Blue Like Jazz deeply resonates with me.

At Reed College there was barely a handful of individuals who identified themselves as followers of Jesus. During the annual all-about-partying Ren Fayre festival, these few decided to set up a confessional booth. But rather than accept confessions from their 'partying' peers, Tony the Beat Poet suggests an idea with a twist:

"We are not actually going to accept confessions…We are going to confess to them. We are going to confess that, as followers of Jesus, we have not been very loving; we have been bitter, and for that we are sorry. We will apologize for the Crusades, we will apologize for televangelists, we will apologize for neglecting the poor and the lonely, we will ask them to forgive us, and we will tell them that in our selfishness, we have misrepresented Jesus on this campus. We will tell people who come into the booth that Jesus loves them." P 118

So Donald is the one in the booth to accept the first customer. He confesses --

"Jesus said to feed the poor and to heal the sick. I have never done very much about that. Jesus said to love those who persecute me. I tend to lash out, especially if I feel threatened, you know, if my ego gets threatened. Jesus did not mix His spirituality with politics. I grew up doing that. It got in the way of the central message of Christ. I know that was wrong, and I know that a lot of people will not listen to the words of Christ because people like me, who know Him, carry our own agendas into the conversation rather than just relaying the message Christ wanted to get across. There's a lot more, you know." p 123
There is good reason these words resonate; they are true of me. What I really want, and what I believe will bring me into wholeness and abundant life, is to walk and live and love like Jesus. For anyone reading, of whom I've not loved like Jesus loves, may you know I am sorry.

"Anyone who claims to be intimate with God ought to live the same kind of life Jesus lived." I John 2:6 TM

Differing perspectives

I am reading a book called Blue Like Jazz. I love being exposed to differing perspectives, and the perspectives of author Donald Miller are "fresh and original." He says authenticity is important to him and he writes in such a way. I too love authenticity and am enjoying his honesty and kinda quirky take on a variety of subjects.

Here's a fun thought (especially since I love both chocolate and reading Bible); these words were said by one of his friends--

“…the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn’t. It is a chocolate thing…" p 47

And a couple of the author's thoughts on love:

"Love, for example, is a true emotion, but it is not rational. What I mean is, people actually feel it. I have been in love, plenty of people have been in love, yet love cannot be proved scientifically. Neither can beauty. Light cannot be proved scientifically, and yet we all believe in light and by light see all things. There are plenty of things that are true that don’t make any sense." P 54
"There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. (They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) And as I lay there, it occurred to me that God is up there somewhere. Of course, I had always known He was, but this time I felt it, I realized it, the way a person realizes they are hungry or thirsty. The knowledge of God seeped out of my brain and into my heart. I imagined Him looking down on this earth, half angry because His beloved mankind had cheated on Him, had committed adultery, and yet hopelessly in love with her, drunk with love for her." P 100