And now to some more stories that we thought we knew, but leads to more questions. This book seems to actually be more of a book of questions rather than a book of answers. So, the brief synopsis:
Chapter 3: Serpent gets Eve to give apple to Adam, God finds out, and they get kicked out of the garden.
Chapter 4: Cain kills his brother Abel.
Chapter 5: A lot of begatting and a lot of people living a long time leading up to Noah.
OK...so now on to some questions and thoughts
First off, how historical is this all? Is there symbolic content intermixed with historical context? Everyone seems to stand on one side or another. Why does it have to be all or nothing? Couldn't it be a mix? Again, we are providing no revelations of our own as we are only asking the questions at this point, but in order to start the conversations, the questions must be asked.
Some interesting parallels relating to world history and the development of civilization come out of this story though. Man had an easy time finding food before eating the forbidden fruit. After getting kicked out of the garden, Man was told that he would have to till at the soil the rest of his life and have a difficult time doing so. Is this the point in which mankind switched from a gathering society to an Agrarian society? After all, it is agriculture that begat cities to form and it was in the lineage of Adam (the first farmer) that we see cities being built.
Genesis 3: 16 provides another parallel to World history: "Unto woman he said, i will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." After giving Adam the fruit, Eve was commanded by God to have to obey Adam. Woman was put in the dominion of man. Following this, we are given a lineage of patriarchs in chapter 5. Now to put a different context on this. There are many other references from early recorded cultures that some of the first societies were actually matriarchal (If my memory serves me, Egypt for instance was primarily a matriarchal society prior to the Pharaohs). At some point, the men took over and started warring. Other early societies held woman at the forefront because of the power to create life. Perhaps the men were jealous of this and this is why they took over and took power. In patriarchal societies a woman was often seen as unclean during her menstrual cycle. Interestingly enough, one of the punishments brought by God upon woman for giving Adam the fruit here seems to be children. Is this the same negative spin on the ability to give life that further gives Man power over women?
More questions:
So Adam and Eve had two sons initially. Cain and Abel. We know the story. Cain kills Abel and won't tell God what happened to him (Am I my brothers keeper?). Then, we find out that Cain took a wife and moved to Nod? A wife? where did said wife come from? If taken at a literal definition, Cain was only the 3rd person to exist in the world. So where did his wife come from? And where did this land of Nod come from if there aren't any other people in existence? He then has a son Enoch with his wife and builds a city....Who would live in such a city if there aren't other people around?
We dig further. Within the lineage of Cain, we start to see different classes of people show up. One's kids would become the people who live in tents and keep cattle. Another's would become the people who play organs and harps. Still another would develop a class of people who work in brass and iron. Here is where another parallel comes in. The process of civilization is this: Man develops agriculture which allows man to grow in population eventually forming cities. Once cities are formed you get a specialization of labor. Isn't that exactly what is going on in the lineage of Cain? He started a city and it is in his lineage that we see specialists of different jobs showing up.
Now this was all going on east of Eden in Nod. The story then jumps back to Adam and Eve having Seth who was essentially a replacement for Abel. Chapter 5: 26: "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord." What follows in chapter 5 is the lineage of men from Seth to Noah. These are the men to call upon the name of the Lord. I pose a possible interpretation of what is going on here in the form of a question: Are we to understand that Cain represents the rest of the world developing while the lineage of Seth will give us the chosen people who will believe in the one true God?
Are the things written above the answers? Maybe, but maybe not. They are simply questions that lead us to dig deeper into understanding the importance of this unbelievable book. Back to the original question: Is it historical or symbolic? Again I offer the possibility that despite what most believe, it CAN BE BOTH. Ultimately though, does it actually matter? The point isn't about a literal interpretation or a symbolic interpretation. People get too caught up in what the Bible means rather than its purpose: To get us to understand and respect ourselves, each other, our world and our creator .
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Genesis 1-2: "In the beginning..."
So we are getting back into the bible to continue what we started upon seemingly so long ago. We decided though to hit the book of the bible that most people start with and most people think they know. The goal here is almost to find as many things to question about these books as possible. I have always taken for granted that I know what is in Genesis, but then again we both took for granted that we knew much of the story of David and boy were we informed of a lot that we didn't know about.
The first thing that got us was the title of this book: The first book of Moses called Genesis. Yep...The first book of Moses. Moses doesn't show up in this book and it is his book. Then again, The books of Samuel are more about David than Samuel. Does this mean that Moses put these books together? Or did he write them? Or did he compile stories that were already part of oral tradition.
Goal Accomplished, we haven't even begun this book and we already have a significant question.
OK...more things to question. As we discovered in the David stories, there is some timeline discrepancies. In the first chapter we see God create everything. including man and woman in his own image. Upon finishing this chapter, Molly and I asked a significant question, "What about the whole taking Adam's rib thing?" Ahh, but this gets answered in the 2nd chapter. Although in the 1st chapter, God had already made the animals and had made man and woman at the same time, God creates the beasts again in the 2nd chapter so Adam has some company. He then lets Adam name them all and then only once a suitable mate is not found, God makes woman for Adam out of his rib.
Now, in the 1st chapter, God made the beasts first and then Adam. In the 2nd chapter it is the other way around. How could this be? Is the 2nd chapter a re-telling in more detail of the 1st? It doesn't seem so because the 2nd chapter picks up where the first ends. The 7th day happens in the 2nd chapter, not the first. So, in the 2nd chapter, God made animals and woman after the seventh day, whereas they were created in the 6th day in the 1st chapter. Is it possible that the writer of Genesis (Moses or not) was combining a number of creationist stories from the oral tradition of the Hebrews into one book? We see this sort of thing in Catholicism quite a bit in the early days of the church. Stories of previous faiths and peoples get combined into one new dogma to unify people behind one belief. Is this the answer to the question? not necessarily, but at least it has gotten us thinking quite deeply about something we thought we already knew about.
Enough on that though...There are loads of other questions that we can ask about these first chapters (and have between ourselves). We suggest you read or re-read them for yourselves and start questioning what you have taken for granted that you already "know."
The first thing that got us was the title of this book: The first book of Moses called Genesis. Yep...The first book of Moses. Moses doesn't show up in this book and it is his book. Then again, The books of Samuel are more about David than Samuel. Does this mean that Moses put these books together? Or did he write them? Or did he compile stories that were already part of oral tradition.
Goal Accomplished, we haven't even begun this book and we already have a significant question.
OK...more things to question. As we discovered in the David stories, there is some timeline discrepancies. In the first chapter we see God create everything. including man and woman in his own image. Upon finishing this chapter, Molly and I asked a significant question, "What about the whole taking Adam's rib thing?" Ahh, but this gets answered in the 2nd chapter. Although in the 1st chapter, God had already made the animals and had made man and woman at the same time, God creates the beasts again in the 2nd chapter so Adam has some company. He then lets Adam name them all and then only once a suitable mate is not found, God makes woman for Adam out of his rib.
Now, in the 1st chapter, God made the beasts first and then Adam. In the 2nd chapter it is the other way around. How could this be? Is the 2nd chapter a re-telling in more detail of the 1st? It doesn't seem so because the 2nd chapter picks up where the first ends. The 7th day happens in the 2nd chapter, not the first. So, in the 2nd chapter, God made animals and woman after the seventh day, whereas they were created in the 6th day in the 1st chapter. Is it possible that the writer of Genesis (Moses or not) was combining a number of creationist stories from the oral tradition of the Hebrews into one book? We see this sort of thing in Catholicism quite a bit in the early days of the church. Stories of previous faiths and peoples get combined into one new dogma to unify people behind one belief. Is this the answer to the question? not necessarily, but at least it has gotten us thinking quite deeply about something we thought we already knew about.
Enough on that though...There are loads of other questions that we can ask about these first chapters (and have between ourselves). We suggest you read or re-read them for yourselves and start questioning what you have taken for granted that you already "know."
Sunday, July 29, 2012
SFT: Challenge follow-up and CHANGE!
Hello! It's been a while...a little less than a month, I guess. No, we didn't intentionally take such a long break from reading/blogging, but life caught up with us and before we knew it, a month had passed. This is actually a good talking point for tonight...change!
A few months back we had extended a challenge to our readers--change 3 things for 3 months. The changes were to be small, feasible, and something that you really needed to work on. Mike and I chose to change the following: 1) go to bed by 10:00 every night, 2) no junk food and no eating out except for special occasions, and 3) read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. How did we do? Horribly! But did we have success? YES!
So often we think that just because we didn't "lick" a bad habit or "nail" our goals, we've failed. But the truth is, just because we haven't succeeded 100% doesn't mean that we haven't succeeded at all! What do I mean? Well, let's look at the goals that Mike and I set. 1) Go to bed by 10:00 every night. Well, we had been going to bed between 11:00 and 11:30. After setting our goal, we ended up getting to bed by 10:30 on average. So did we go to bed by 10:00 every night? Nope. But we got halfway there. And we may not have gotten that far if we hadn't tried to make a change. 2) No junk food and no eating out except for special occasions. The bad news? We still eat treats nearly daily. The good news? We now eat only treats that we truly want and our portion sizes have gotten MUCH smaller, not to mention that we rarely eat daytime treats. 3) Read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. Well, as our blog readers you obviously knew that we weren't fully adhering to this. But you know what? If we hadn't set that goal we probably would have opened the bible at the beginning, started reading and gotten bored after the Creation. So I'd say once or twice a week on average isn't so bad! Of course, we've beat ourselves up a bit along the way for not always striving to reach these goals, but when we reminded ourselves that we were part of the way there (and I'd say that's something to hang your hat on!), it became easier to jump back on course when we strayed.
This might sound a little like complacency. If you just stop at "halfway is good enough," then yes, you've become complacent. But sometimes it's really important to look back at the last few years of your life and think, "Have I changed?" because you will remind yourself just how far you've come and when you can see the progress that you've made, it does make it a lot easier to stay on track. As long as you don't just give up after you've partially reached your goal, you'll get there!
I suggest doing as we've done and set a time frame for when you'd like to reach your goal. After that time has passed, make an assessment of your progress and change your goals based on that assessment. Maybe going to bed at 10:00 every night just isn't realistic. Can you get everything done that need be done before then? Will you still have time to relax and unwind before bed? If you find yourself saying, "No, my original goal just isn't feasible," then consider tweaking your goal a little. If changing your goal to a 10:30 bed time gives you that extra time that you need to feel "on top," then perhaps that's a better plan for you. As for our junk food goal, I remembered back to a time when I was counting calories. At that time, I allowed myself a little treat (not necessarily full-sized) every day and it REALLY helped me to curb my sweets cravings and prevented me from going overboard, even during special occasions. So for now, a little something sweet to keep myself from over-indulging is not only helpful, but possibly necessary. And as for our reading M-Th goal, we'd still like to keep this one up, knowing that we may not always achieve this goal (or be able to, depending on what life hands us...children, heat, schedules, etc).
What did we learn/gain from our challenge? Well, obviously we got a little more sleep from the bed time goal. But I would say that this was the goal that let us see that we needed to be able to be flexible. Flexible, not lazy. That doesn't mean we let ourselves veg out in front of the tv every night, but it means that we knew that if we didn't get certain household tasks done before bed, it would cause more problems the next day, so if that meant going to bed a little bit later, then so be it. From our junk food goal...well, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do here. BUT we both did lose some weight and are now holding steady at weights we feel are ideal for us. We also noticed less garbage output and (as long as we were being diligent) we noticed a little more financial breathing room in our grocery budget. From our reading goal, we learned A LOT! Clearly reading the bible provides much insight, so the goal itself didn't necessarily need to have another purpose, but I would say that we now barely watch any tv/movies (it feels very empty to me now). We also became a little better about keeping on top of housework...I find that it's not unreasonable to fold a basket of laundry while Mike reads or blogs. And as we prepared to wind down for the night, it helped us better wind down our children for the night, leaving bedtime a much less stressful routine.
Please, please, please, keep setting goals. They don't have to be big. They don't have to be excruciating. They don't have to be impressive. But they do have to be there. When we just stop and think, "I'll get to it later," rarely do we actually get around to it. Life doesn't have to be approached with an "all-or-nothing" attitude, but should rather be approached with a "do something" attitude. Just get up and do something! Move! Try! Change! It will come to you eventually as long as you do something. You just need to have realistic expectations of yourself. And when you make a mistake, own it and learn from it. Remember, you are not your neighbor, your mother, your grandmother, your boss, or that celebrity. You are YOU and your goals should reflect the person that you are and that you hope to become.
We'd love to hear from you all about the changes you've made in your lives over the last few months. What did you learn about yourselves and your goals? Did you gain anything? If so, what...and was it beyond what you expected? If not, how could you alter your goal to make it more attainable? Please share your stories, as I'm sure every one of our readers would love to hear the inspiration that it provides.
Back to the bible tomorrow. This has been the past month's Sunday Fresh Take!
A few months back we had extended a challenge to our readers--change 3 things for 3 months. The changes were to be small, feasible, and something that you really needed to work on. Mike and I chose to change the following: 1) go to bed by 10:00 every night, 2) no junk food and no eating out except for special occasions, and 3) read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. How did we do? Horribly! But did we have success? YES!
So often we think that just because we didn't "lick" a bad habit or "nail" our goals, we've failed. But the truth is, just because we haven't succeeded 100% doesn't mean that we haven't succeeded at all! What do I mean? Well, let's look at the goals that Mike and I set. 1) Go to bed by 10:00 every night. Well, we had been going to bed between 11:00 and 11:30. After setting our goal, we ended up getting to bed by 10:30 on average. So did we go to bed by 10:00 every night? Nope. But we got halfway there. And we may not have gotten that far if we hadn't tried to make a change. 2) No junk food and no eating out except for special occasions. The bad news? We still eat treats nearly daily. The good news? We now eat only treats that we truly want and our portion sizes have gotten MUCH smaller, not to mention that we rarely eat daytime treats. 3) Read the bible Monday through Thursday and blog about it. Well, as our blog readers you obviously knew that we weren't fully adhering to this. But you know what? If we hadn't set that goal we probably would have opened the bible at the beginning, started reading and gotten bored after the Creation. So I'd say once or twice a week on average isn't so bad! Of course, we've beat ourselves up a bit along the way for not always striving to reach these goals, but when we reminded ourselves that we were part of the way there (and I'd say that's something to hang your hat on!), it became easier to jump back on course when we strayed.
This might sound a little like complacency. If you just stop at "halfway is good enough," then yes, you've become complacent. But sometimes it's really important to look back at the last few years of your life and think, "Have I changed?" because you will remind yourself just how far you've come and when you can see the progress that you've made, it does make it a lot easier to stay on track. As long as you don't just give up after you've partially reached your goal, you'll get there!
I suggest doing as we've done and set a time frame for when you'd like to reach your goal. After that time has passed, make an assessment of your progress and change your goals based on that assessment. Maybe going to bed at 10:00 every night just isn't realistic. Can you get everything done that need be done before then? Will you still have time to relax and unwind before bed? If you find yourself saying, "No, my original goal just isn't feasible," then consider tweaking your goal a little. If changing your goal to a 10:30 bed time gives you that extra time that you need to feel "on top," then perhaps that's a better plan for you. As for our junk food goal, I remembered back to a time when I was counting calories. At that time, I allowed myself a little treat (not necessarily full-sized) every day and it REALLY helped me to curb my sweets cravings and prevented me from going overboard, even during special occasions. So for now, a little something sweet to keep myself from over-indulging is not only helpful, but possibly necessary. And as for our reading M-Th goal, we'd still like to keep this one up, knowing that we may not always achieve this goal (or be able to, depending on what life hands us...children, heat, schedules, etc).
What did we learn/gain from our challenge? Well, obviously we got a little more sleep from the bed time goal. But I would say that this was the goal that let us see that we needed to be able to be flexible. Flexible, not lazy. That doesn't mean we let ourselves veg out in front of the tv every night, but it means that we knew that if we didn't get certain household tasks done before bed, it would cause more problems the next day, so if that meant going to bed a little bit later, then so be it. From our junk food goal...well, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do here. BUT we both did lose some weight and are now holding steady at weights we feel are ideal for us. We also noticed less garbage output and (as long as we were being diligent) we noticed a little more financial breathing room in our grocery budget. From our reading goal, we learned A LOT! Clearly reading the bible provides much insight, so the goal itself didn't necessarily need to have another purpose, but I would say that we now barely watch any tv/movies (it feels very empty to me now). We also became a little better about keeping on top of housework...I find that it's not unreasonable to fold a basket of laundry while Mike reads or blogs. And as we prepared to wind down for the night, it helped us better wind down our children for the night, leaving bedtime a much less stressful routine.
Please, please, please, keep setting goals. They don't have to be big. They don't have to be excruciating. They don't have to be impressive. But they do have to be there. When we just stop and think, "I'll get to it later," rarely do we actually get around to it. Life doesn't have to be approached with an "all-or-nothing" attitude, but should rather be approached with a "do something" attitude. Just get up and do something! Move! Try! Change! It will come to you eventually as long as you do something. You just need to have realistic expectations of yourself. And when you make a mistake, own it and learn from it. Remember, you are not your neighbor, your mother, your grandmother, your boss, or that celebrity. You are YOU and your goals should reflect the person that you are and that you hope to become.
We'd love to hear from you all about the changes you've made in your lives over the last few months. What did you learn about yourselves and your goals? Did you gain anything? If so, what...and was it beyond what you expected? If not, how could you alter your goal to make it more attainable? Please share your stories, as I'm sure every one of our readers would love to hear the inspiration that it provides.
Back to the bible tomorrow. This has been the past month's Sunday Fresh Take!
Monday, July 2, 2012
II. Samuel 20-24: wrapping it all up
After a weeks delay, we've gotten back on track and finished up II. Samuel. The major events in David's life have taken place and it seems that these last few stories pale in comparison to previous ones, but continue with the same themes: someone tries to undermine David, God punishes Israel, David's men smite Philistine giants in battle, David thanks God for everything, David sins.
Chapter 20: One of the old followers (Sheba) of Saul decides that he should rise up against David. In the process of chasing him down, Joab "accidentally?" kills one of David's men that had failed in one of his tasks for David. When they show up at a city to come in and take Sheba, the people of the city throw Sheba's head over the wall so that Joab and his men won't kill anyone in the city.
Chapter 21: The people are stuck in four years famine as a hangover of one of Saul's unrighteous wars against the Gibeonites. To make things right, David turns over 7 men from the line of Saul (at the Gibeonites request) to be hanged...which of course gets rid of the famine. Meanwhile, more Philistine giants are leading the charge against Israel, after a close call where David almost dies, his men tell him he has to stay home now and they proceed to smite some Philistine giants for David.
Chapter 22: David produces a long psalm of thanksgiving unto the Lord.
Chapter 23: David's last words on earth, talking of how God has been good to him and is against the naughty people of the world. This chapter then goes on to list the great men of David's army and their accomplishments, almost as if it is a list of Hall of fame inductees in Israel.
Chapter 24: In a sign of arrogance, David tells Joab to go and count how many subjects he has. Begrudgingly, Joab does so. For his sin, God has Gad, David's seer, give David a choice between famine, fleeing from enemies, or pestilence. David cannot make a choice so God sends disease to wipe out 70,000 of David's subjects. David then goes to make an altar and give burnt offerings to the Lord, which ends the pestilence.
Thus ends Samuel.
Chapter 20: One of the old followers (Sheba) of Saul decides that he should rise up against David. In the process of chasing him down, Joab "accidentally?" kills one of David's men that had failed in one of his tasks for David. When they show up at a city to come in and take Sheba, the people of the city throw Sheba's head over the wall so that Joab and his men won't kill anyone in the city.
Chapter 21: The people are stuck in four years famine as a hangover of one of Saul's unrighteous wars against the Gibeonites. To make things right, David turns over 7 men from the line of Saul (at the Gibeonites request) to be hanged...which of course gets rid of the famine. Meanwhile, more Philistine giants are leading the charge against Israel, after a close call where David almost dies, his men tell him he has to stay home now and they proceed to smite some Philistine giants for David.
Chapter 22: David produces a long psalm of thanksgiving unto the Lord.
Chapter 23: David's last words on earth, talking of how God has been good to him and is against the naughty people of the world. This chapter then goes on to list the great men of David's army and their accomplishments, almost as if it is a list of Hall of fame inductees in Israel.
Chapter 24: In a sign of arrogance, David tells Joab to go and count how many subjects he has. Begrudgingly, Joab does so. For his sin, God has Gad, David's seer, give David a choice between famine, fleeing from enemies, or pestilence. David cannot make a choice so God sends disease to wipe out 70,000 of David's subjects. David then goes to make an altar and give burnt offerings to the Lord, which ends the pestilence.
Thus ends Samuel.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Special Edition Fresh-Take: 1 bag of garbage
I'm going to interrupt our normal blog process and the shenanigans of David to point out something that was quite a great accomplishment for Molly and me. As many of you know, Molly and I have been making strides in recent years to improve our lifestyle (this blog is an example). It all came together and made sense for me tonight in a very unusual way as I was taking the garbage to the curb. We only produced 1 bag of garbage in our main kitchen garbage this week. Yes that's right, a family of 5 produced 1 bag of garbage over the course of the week. A seemingly insignificant finding, but we found it actually to be quite profound in a number of ways as it signified a lot of change in our life together and with the kids.
Let's step back a little while and take a look at some of the changes we've made that some of you may know about and some may not. We built momentum and learned from mistakes to get to this point and we will be the first to tell you we have a long way to go. It all started with finances actually. When we first moved back closer to family, money was very tight. I was starting a commission based job selling cars at a time when the economy was terrible. As we struggled with the idea of how to make ends meet, we had a financial planning discussion about what can be cut out. If we didn't need it, it went. Cable TV? Don't need it. Cell phone? Don't need it. Eating out? Don't need it (we do still occasionally eat out, though). 2nd Car? Don't need it. This took some financial burden off of us, but we became more aware of our electrical, water and gas usage as well. We put ourselves on a tight budget (gas, groceries, miscellaneous) and stuck to it because it was all the money we had. As things improved and I started making more money at work, we began getting lax about things and thus began a pendulum of getting lazy and kicking ourselves in the butt to get back on track over and over again.
While finances were one aspect we were trying to improve, another was diet. This started about the time our first son started eating solids. Molly became very aware of the fact that we didn't want our son consuming the same things we had made a habit of putting into our bodies (wings, pizza, etc.). So, we started making meal plans to make life easier so it wasn't always a struggle to come up with things to eat (otherwise you end up going out or getting convenience foods).
Fast-forward a little bit and our second son was born. Anyone with more than one kid in diapers knows that disposables are EXPENSIVE. As much as we forced it, our oldest wouldn't potty train just to make our budgeting for diapers easier, so Molly pushed us into the next step: Cloth diapers. It took a while to get a system down (actually we didn't have one down pat until our daughter was born and we had 2 kids in cloth). Cloth diapers carry an expensive up front cost and seemed like a difficult decision at a time when we didn't have a lot of extra cash to throw around. The initial investment has paid off though and if I did the math, I'm sure I would be astounded at what we have now saved. By the way, our daughter is still using the diapers we initially bought for our second child.
Kid #2 provided another example of how to manage our diets. Our oldest as a baby got a lot of Gerber and some homemade baby foods intermixed. Our second son ate what we ate after it got passed through a grinder. I could probably count on one hand the number of times his dinner was bought in the baby food aisle. I know we saved some money there. Still though, we were ping-ponging back and forth with improving our diets and then falling into bad habits again. However, some health issues post pregnancy for Molly with our first and our second (which she has previously blogged about) pushed her to push me to change even more towards a better lifestyle.
Fast-forward again to the birth of our daughter (and third child). Having just gotten life on track after our middle child, we began life again with 3 children. Things started out simple but then got crazy. Weeks would go by where we (and particularly Molly) was frustrated with the contradictions of life. I'd try to find escapes for her, but they would not fix the underlying problems. This pushed us further to try and better our lives. Sunday Mass, which had fallen by the wayside a couple of times in the preceding years became a no excuses, we go every week matter. We went to Christmas Mass with a 3 yr old, 1 yr old and a 1 week old and survived. In the Spring, Molly pushed me to join her in reading the Bible in its entirety which in turn led to the creation of this blog. Through the blog we came up with a blog challenge that would force us into a better diet for 3 months. I hate to say it, but after a month going strong, we failed miserably.
Finally, last week Tuesday, we began an experiment after being inspired by some biblical reasons as well as some movies we watched to attempt a whole-foods, plant based diet. Minimal pre-packaged and processed foods, if any, would be allowed. In a week we have learned more about ourselves than in just about any other experiment we've done. We were strict with the diet until Sunday when we took a break (omelets for breakfast, McDonald's for dinner with ice cream for dessert). Monday we got back on track after feeling terrible Sunday night and today we did what our ultimate goal was, a mixed and balanced diet. We never intended to become vegans, but rather experience the pros and cons of a plant based diet to better incorporate it into a balanced lifestyle.
From our plant based diet experiment we learned a number of things. Despite being very sleep deprived, we both maintained energy and focus until bed time. It was only at the end of the week when we completely crashed. We learned a lot about cooking and timing through preparing a lot of meals that start with dry beans and whole grains as a base. We weaned ourselves off of severe coffee addictions in a matter of days with very little withdrawal symptoms. Molly became much closer with the kids during the past week despite being home with them everyday for the past 4 years. We got a number of awesome recipes that we otherwise never would have discovered (black bean tacos, baked sweet potatoes for breakfast, bean soup without meat that is delicious, a number of bean and grain combinations, multiple ways to prepare steal cut outs, mixing cherry juice with granola and fruit rather than yogurt or milk, etc.). We also learned that quinoa is an awesome grain to cook with and is incredibly adaptable. Most recently, we learned just how efficient we now are at preparing great meals. Tonight, we got home from the beach with about an hour before I had to teach a horn lesson. In that hour we managed to get the boys (and myself) showered and dressed and prepared and ate a meal that consisted of hand-formed burgers (w/ lettuce, tomato, onion, and an improvised avocado sauce on a grilled bun), seasoned wild rice (not instant), corn on the cob, watermelon and grilled pineapple. I can guarantee that a couple of years ago that meal in that short time frame would have been either A) McDonald's or B) pre-formed burgers from the Piggly-Wiggly with ketchup, potato chips and pre-cut watermelon (also from the Piggly Wiggly).
As I cleaned and took out the 1 bag of trash as the kids got ready for bed, I began to reflect on all of the above and realized just how far we have come in the past couple of years. That one bag of trash (cut down from 3-4 a couple of years ago with 1 child) represents all of the work we have done to improve our lives. We are healthier (both physically and financially) because of all of our efforts. We are by no means experts on anything, but I hope that our experience helps demonstrates the positive impact that making change can have in your life. You will not fix everything in one change and change will not happen overnight. There are ups and downs with change, but it is what you learn about yourself and your family during those ups and downs that will propel you to push through the difficulties and to always strive to be a better person, both for yourself and those around you.
Let's step back a little while and take a look at some of the changes we've made that some of you may know about and some may not. We built momentum and learned from mistakes to get to this point and we will be the first to tell you we have a long way to go. It all started with finances actually. When we first moved back closer to family, money was very tight. I was starting a commission based job selling cars at a time when the economy was terrible. As we struggled with the idea of how to make ends meet, we had a financial planning discussion about what can be cut out. If we didn't need it, it went. Cable TV? Don't need it. Cell phone? Don't need it. Eating out? Don't need it (we do still occasionally eat out, though). 2nd Car? Don't need it. This took some financial burden off of us, but we became more aware of our electrical, water and gas usage as well. We put ourselves on a tight budget (gas, groceries, miscellaneous) and stuck to it because it was all the money we had. As things improved and I started making more money at work, we began getting lax about things and thus began a pendulum of getting lazy and kicking ourselves in the butt to get back on track over and over again.
While finances were one aspect we were trying to improve, another was diet. This started about the time our first son started eating solids. Molly became very aware of the fact that we didn't want our son consuming the same things we had made a habit of putting into our bodies (wings, pizza, etc.). So, we started making meal plans to make life easier so it wasn't always a struggle to come up with things to eat (otherwise you end up going out or getting convenience foods).
Fast-forward a little bit and our second son was born. Anyone with more than one kid in diapers knows that disposables are EXPENSIVE. As much as we forced it, our oldest wouldn't potty train just to make our budgeting for diapers easier, so Molly pushed us into the next step: Cloth diapers. It took a while to get a system down (actually we didn't have one down pat until our daughter was born and we had 2 kids in cloth). Cloth diapers carry an expensive up front cost and seemed like a difficult decision at a time when we didn't have a lot of extra cash to throw around. The initial investment has paid off though and if I did the math, I'm sure I would be astounded at what we have now saved. By the way, our daughter is still using the diapers we initially bought for our second child.
Kid #2 provided another example of how to manage our diets. Our oldest as a baby got a lot of Gerber and some homemade baby foods intermixed. Our second son ate what we ate after it got passed through a grinder. I could probably count on one hand the number of times his dinner was bought in the baby food aisle. I know we saved some money there. Still though, we were ping-ponging back and forth with improving our diets and then falling into bad habits again. However, some health issues post pregnancy for Molly with our first and our second (which she has previously blogged about) pushed her to push me to change even more towards a better lifestyle.
Fast-forward again to the birth of our daughter (and third child). Having just gotten life on track after our middle child, we began life again with 3 children. Things started out simple but then got crazy. Weeks would go by where we (and particularly Molly) was frustrated with the contradictions of life. I'd try to find escapes for her, but they would not fix the underlying problems. This pushed us further to try and better our lives. Sunday Mass, which had fallen by the wayside a couple of times in the preceding years became a no excuses, we go every week matter. We went to Christmas Mass with a 3 yr old, 1 yr old and a 1 week old and survived. In the Spring, Molly pushed me to join her in reading the Bible in its entirety which in turn led to the creation of this blog. Through the blog we came up with a blog challenge that would force us into a better diet for 3 months. I hate to say it, but after a month going strong, we failed miserably.
Finally, last week Tuesday, we began an experiment after being inspired by some biblical reasons as well as some movies we watched to attempt a whole-foods, plant based diet. Minimal pre-packaged and processed foods, if any, would be allowed. In a week we have learned more about ourselves than in just about any other experiment we've done. We were strict with the diet until Sunday when we took a break (omelets for breakfast, McDonald's for dinner with ice cream for dessert). Monday we got back on track after feeling terrible Sunday night and today we did what our ultimate goal was, a mixed and balanced diet. We never intended to become vegans, but rather experience the pros and cons of a plant based diet to better incorporate it into a balanced lifestyle.
From our plant based diet experiment we learned a number of things. Despite being very sleep deprived, we both maintained energy and focus until bed time. It was only at the end of the week when we completely crashed. We learned a lot about cooking and timing through preparing a lot of meals that start with dry beans and whole grains as a base. We weaned ourselves off of severe coffee addictions in a matter of days with very little withdrawal symptoms. Molly became much closer with the kids during the past week despite being home with them everyday for the past 4 years. We got a number of awesome recipes that we otherwise never would have discovered (black bean tacos, baked sweet potatoes for breakfast, bean soup without meat that is delicious, a number of bean and grain combinations, multiple ways to prepare steal cut outs, mixing cherry juice with granola and fruit rather than yogurt or milk, etc.). We also learned that quinoa is an awesome grain to cook with and is incredibly adaptable. Most recently, we learned just how efficient we now are at preparing great meals. Tonight, we got home from the beach with about an hour before I had to teach a horn lesson. In that hour we managed to get the boys (and myself) showered and dressed and prepared and ate a meal that consisted of hand-formed burgers (w/ lettuce, tomato, onion, and an improvised avocado sauce on a grilled bun), seasoned wild rice (not instant), corn on the cob, watermelon and grilled pineapple. I can guarantee that a couple of years ago that meal in that short time frame would have been either A) McDonald's or B) pre-formed burgers from the Piggly-Wiggly with ketchup, potato chips and pre-cut watermelon (also from the Piggly Wiggly).
As I cleaned and took out the 1 bag of trash as the kids got ready for bed, I began to reflect on all of the above and realized just how far we have come in the past couple of years. That one bag of trash (cut down from 3-4 a couple of years ago with 1 child) represents all of the work we have done to improve our lives. We are healthier (both physically and financially) because of all of our efforts. We are by no means experts on anything, but I hope that our experience helps demonstrates the positive impact that making change can have in your life. You will not fix everything in one change and change will not happen overnight. There are ups and downs with change, but it is what you learn about yourself and your family during those ups and downs that will propel you to push through the difficulties and to always strive to be a better person, both for yourself and those around you.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
SFT: Don't put all your free-range eggs in one basket
With all of this recent talk about a balanced diet, I thought I'd take this opportunity to discuss faith. Not "let's talk about what faith means," but rather "in whom/what should we put our faith."
With promises to cure cancer and heart disease, to cure your fatigue, your pain, and your brittle bones, it can be easy to want to jump on the healthy eating band-wagon. It makes sense--put bad things in your body and you'll have bad health, put good things in your body and have good health. And in a perfect world, it would probably be that simple. But we don't live in a perfect world (we live on Earth, by the way, not in Heaven), so it's really not that simple. If it were this simple, then people who eat healthfully would have perfect health and live forever and people who smoke, drink, and eat "junk" would be stricken dead immediately. That's not to say that bad habits don't have long-term effects (they typically do!), but when you put your faith into the idea that being good is all it takes to have good things in life, then you set yourself up for a lot of problems in the future.
Why is believing this a problem? Imagine someone very "healthy" is given a cancer diagnosis. This "healthy" person eats mostly or only plant-based foods, exercises plenty, gets lots of rest, doesn't smoke, has the perfect "American dream," and has an all-around good life. This healthy person put their entire heart and soul into the idea that taking care of his/herself physically would keep him/her healthy and alive for a long, long time. But perhaps this healthy person forgot to consider some of the many, many other factors that contribute to good health and a good life. Perhaps s/he had a stressful job, stressful family life, or stressful relationships (or all of the above). Perhaps this person was so rigid about their healthful ways that they forgot to let go and have fun from time to time. Maybe s/he had a haunted past that was being deeply, deeply suppressed. Maybe this person forgot to consider that s/he can only take control of her/his life, and not others surrounding this person. This person definitely forgot to consider that there are several billion individuals on earth who all need individual health plans, most of whom are going to live to be the same age regardless of diet and lifestyle. Or maybe this person--in spite of having many blessings--lost touch with God and forgot to give Him thanks each and every day. Whatever the problem, this person had put their whole faith into a healthy lifestyle as a cure and this idea failed him/her.
The trouble is, when you rely on a single approach--such as healthy eating--as a means to a better life, you are "putting all your eggs in one basket," so to speak. You are left with nothing upon which to fall back. If and when you're given that cancer diagnosis, you may be at a loss for what to do and where to turn. But if you put your faith in God, then when the bad news comes, you can just turn to Him and ask, "What now?" And he might just tell you to clean up your diet. However, as long as you're taking matters into your own hands, you might be flat-out ignoring God's will...until, of course, you're ready to listen.
It's always best to give yourself the best odds for your best possible life. Eat balanced, get lots of rest, exercise, work hard, socialize, and spend time with your loved ones, but never EVER forget to thank God for your blessings and for his counsel! Try to let God's will be done and not your own. Sometimes He may just want you to let go and have a candy bar. Try to enjoy your many blessings each and every day. After all, if you can't enjoy life, what's it all for?
With promises to cure cancer and heart disease, to cure your fatigue, your pain, and your brittle bones, it can be easy to want to jump on the healthy eating band-wagon. It makes sense--put bad things in your body and you'll have bad health, put good things in your body and have good health. And in a perfect world, it would probably be that simple. But we don't live in a perfect world (we live on Earth, by the way, not in Heaven), so it's really not that simple. If it were this simple, then people who eat healthfully would have perfect health and live forever and people who smoke, drink, and eat "junk" would be stricken dead immediately. That's not to say that bad habits don't have long-term effects (they typically do!), but when you put your faith into the idea that being good is all it takes to have good things in life, then you set yourself up for a lot of problems in the future.
Why is believing this a problem? Imagine someone very "healthy" is given a cancer diagnosis. This "healthy" person eats mostly or only plant-based foods, exercises plenty, gets lots of rest, doesn't smoke, has the perfect "American dream," and has an all-around good life. This healthy person put their entire heart and soul into the idea that taking care of his/herself physically would keep him/her healthy and alive for a long, long time. But perhaps this healthy person forgot to consider some of the many, many other factors that contribute to good health and a good life. Perhaps s/he had a stressful job, stressful family life, or stressful relationships (or all of the above). Perhaps this person was so rigid about their healthful ways that they forgot to let go and have fun from time to time. Maybe s/he had a haunted past that was being deeply, deeply suppressed. Maybe this person forgot to consider that s/he can only take control of her/his life, and not others surrounding this person. This person definitely forgot to consider that there are several billion individuals on earth who all need individual health plans, most of whom are going to live to be the same age regardless of diet and lifestyle. Or maybe this person--in spite of having many blessings--lost touch with God and forgot to give Him thanks each and every day. Whatever the problem, this person had put their whole faith into a healthy lifestyle as a cure and this idea failed him/her.
The trouble is, when you rely on a single approach--such as healthy eating--as a means to a better life, you are "putting all your eggs in one basket," so to speak. You are left with nothing upon which to fall back. If and when you're given that cancer diagnosis, you may be at a loss for what to do and where to turn. But if you put your faith in God, then when the bad news comes, you can just turn to Him and ask, "What now?" And he might just tell you to clean up your diet. However, as long as you're taking matters into your own hands, you might be flat-out ignoring God's will...until, of course, you're ready to listen.
It's always best to give yourself the best odds for your best possible life. Eat balanced, get lots of rest, exercise, work hard, socialize, and spend time with your loved ones, but never EVER forget to thank God for your blessings and for his counsel! Try to let God's will be done and not your own. Sometimes He may just want you to let go and have a candy bar. Try to enjoy your many blessings each and every day. After all, if you can't enjoy life, what's it all for?
Thursday, June 21, 2012
II. Samuel 19: The aftermath of civil unrest
So we haven't been getting a lot of sleep the last couple of nights and these chapters are getting more and more confusing with new names popping up and small side stories being told while David rules.
The big story tonight is that David is the king again. A familiar theme though is that the people are petty and are fighting to get in the good graces of whoever is in power. Fair weather fans so to speak.
Now that the battle has been won, David can only focus on the death of Absalom, turning a happy day of victory into a day of mourning. Joab (always the bad-arse) calls David out and tells him that he is making a horse's arse of himself and the people won't want to follow a crybaby who weeps for the enemy (in different words of course). David straightens himself out and sets to work reclaiming his kingdom.
Meanwhile in Israel, the people aren't looking for the return of David, despite all of the good things he did for them. This makes you wonder, had David not been the great king he is always made out to be? After all, the people did turn on him pretty quickly and it wasn't until David sent his priests to Jerusalem and Judah that the elders decided they wanted David back. Why was there such seeming disdain for David? The fair-weather fans eventually did come around to take him back, with the men of Judah and Israel fighting over who "liked" David more...too bad they didn't have Facebook back then or we'd have proof.
During this story we also see some side stories making David out to be the good guy we always heard about. First he pardoned the former servant of Saul who had thrown rocks at him and cursed him as he was fleeing Jerusalem. Then, Jonathan's son that David had taken in spoke his unending devotion to David for taking him in and making him a part of his family. David also then made a promise to take care of the wishes of an elderly man who had stood by him during the whole Absalom debacle.
It seems that the stories about David are becoming shorter and less significant than the major ones we had previously read. There were some major events that were depicted in David's life previously and now we are getting the spark notes version of what else was notable in David's reign.
The big story tonight is that David is the king again. A familiar theme though is that the people are petty and are fighting to get in the good graces of whoever is in power. Fair weather fans so to speak.
Now that the battle has been won, David can only focus on the death of Absalom, turning a happy day of victory into a day of mourning. Joab (always the bad-arse) calls David out and tells him that he is making a horse's arse of himself and the people won't want to follow a crybaby who weeps for the enemy (in different words of course). David straightens himself out and sets to work reclaiming his kingdom.
Meanwhile in Israel, the people aren't looking for the return of David, despite all of the good things he did for them. This makes you wonder, had David not been the great king he is always made out to be? After all, the people did turn on him pretty quickly and it wasn't until David sent his priests to Jerusalem and Judah that the elders decided they wanted David back. Why was there such seeming disdain for David? The fair-weather fans eventually did come around to take him back, with the men of Judah and Israel fighting over who "liked" David more...too bad they didn't have Facebook back then or we'd have proof.
During this story we also see some side stories making David out to be the good guy we always heard about. First he pardoned the former servant of Saul who had thrown rocks at him and cursed him as he was fleeing Jerusalem. Then, Jonathan's son that David had taken in spoke his unending devotion to David for taking him in and making him a part of his family. David also then made a promise to take care of the wishes of an elderly man who had stood by him during the whole Absalom debacle.
It seems that the stories about David are becoming shorter and less significant than the major ones we had previously read. There were some major events that were depicted in David's life previously and now we are getting the spark notes version of what else was notable in David's reign.
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