It's day three of my attempt to live on the diet of some of the world's poorest people and I am very, very hungry. On the plus side, people have now donated almost £180 to go towards Christian Aid's India Floods Appeal.
It is just a short post today... as I've been in the kitchen yet again.
Sunday is kept as a feast at the friary, and by feast I mean FEAST!
For Lunch, Kerri and I turned out
- Roast Beef (from our own cow) with Herb Sausage Dressing
- New potatoes (grown in our garden)
- Carrots and beetroot roasted with Garlic and Rosemary
- Cabbage cooked with paprika in a Floridian recipe (Kerri is Floridian...ish)
- A veggy mushroom bake
- A 'Roly-Poly-Dick' - an amalgamation of Roly Poly Pudding and Spotted Dick with lots of sultanas, lemon peel and raspberry jam
- Custard
And dinner was a light option:
- Tomato and Basil Soup (with our own Basil and homemade yoghurt)
- Vegetable Bake with cheesy herb breadcrumb topping (lots of leftovers)
- Potato Salad (more leftovers)
- Green Salad
- Cheese
- A butterscotch tart that was meant for afternoon tea but took an eternity to set
I suppose that's a rather odd way to start a post relating to an emergency appeal, but as I cooked and helped cook all this fabulous food, watched 50-odd people eat it and washed up the dishes, a really funny thing happened.
I realised I was enjoying being in the kitchen a lot more than when I was trying to enjoy the food I had painstakingly produced as well. I was actually getting joy from serving others the food in a way I didn't usually.
And then another thing happened. I realised that I felt exactly the same in myself (bent over the sink, elbow deep in grease and suds) as I was when I had had a full meal.
Perhaps, then, maybe it wasn't having a massive Sunday lunch that made me so happy every week? Evidently there was something else around that was the source of my joy.
I suppose this follows on from my last post about consuming only what we need. But for Franciscans, consuming only what we need isn't meant to make us miserable. It is meant to set us free from the worry that we might not have enough. We are free to find what truly makes us happy.
So the post today is a little more self-centred, in a way. Living off what we need isn't actually only about everyone else's good. It is about ours as well.
Lord,
You asked the people you met
to give up everything to follow you.
You wanted them to have a happiness that 'stuff' couldn't give.
Help me to give up my desire for 'MORE',
And help me to discover the joy in what I have.
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