Seven | Food (day 9)

So, we're into our second week of 7! The first week seemed to be pretty much a piece of cake until yesterday.... and now I'm thinking it's going to be a loooong rest of the month! I cook lunch for our family and Casey's siblings and mom on Sundays.. something I always enjoy doing. But I've gotta admit, yesterday was a bit of a bummer for me and Casey in the lunch department. For the rest of the family, I made a bunch of things, including barbecue chicken, biscuits and chocolate chip cookies... but we pretended not to notice how delicious everything smelled and looked as we ate our sweet potato black bean chicken soup... again. But really, I'm making it sound worse than it actually is. We had a great week and experienced all kinds of delicious meal combinations. I've been creative and tried cooking all sorts of new things. Last night, after a discouraging day as far as food is concerned, I got desperate and made some tortillas. Turns out all it takes is whole wheat flour, olive oil, salt and water, so it's all "legal" ingredients. They were great- although most of what makes a taco is the deliciousness inside... black beans, chicken and avocado sound great in a taco and they are, but a taco is hardly a taco without salsa. I think the hardest part by far is the seasonings. I normally put fresh garlic and onion in just about everything.. not to mention cilantro, basil, lime juice, chili powder, vanilla, cinnamon, etc. I love flavor. I double the seasonings in just about everything I make. So salt and pepper as our only seasonings are starting to seem like a bit of a joke.
However, this month has been incredible and I'm glad it's not over yet. Someone I'm close to told me when we started that when she fasts, God always seems to put a lot of serious things in front of her to pray for. I know this isn't a normal fast.. I'm not sure it categorizes as a fast at all... but every day has been an incredible adventure and I've really had to rely on prayer.. minute by minute, hour by hour. And having so much to pray about really takes my mind off delicious things like peanut butter, tomatoes and cheese. It's been a beautiful week and although at times I've had a lousy attitude about it, I'm reminded of just how much I have taken for granted all the lovely choices that we have around us. But I'm also reminded that I'm not going to be "cured" of my selfishness and greed by the time February 1st rolls around.. Lately I've detected some feelings of hoping to one day just "arrive", free of sin and all my sickening self-centeredness....but of course, those thoughts lead me right back into my cycle of sin and self-sufficiency! Ahhhh, I have a great deal to learn about sanctification. More about that another day.