About three weeks ago, I started meeting with the dietician at our local hospital. I have been suffering from some back problems for a couple years now, and it was the pain in my back that motivated my trips to the dietician. I am hoping that if I lose some weight my back will feel better and I can avoid more long-term treatments and surgery. The dietician was quick to inform me that I am not "on a diet". I am, in fact, "living a new lifestyle". This makes it considerably harder to avoid a complex explanation when people ask me why I'm avoiding sweets or bingeing on rabbit food. "I'm on a diet" has a more noncommittal, less haughty, more slacker-friendly ring to it than, "I've chosen a new, healthier lifestyle." (Take it from a perennial slacker.) Anyway, I have only lost three pounds in three weeks, according to her scale, but I'm down from a size 12 to a 10. So I'm okay with that.
Along with my new lifestyle comes time-consuming tasks like reading labels at the store, hunting for foods that are healthier, and finding the time for exercise during busy days. I am discovering so many new types of foods that are quick, easy, and healthy. I didn't know there was a such thing as chicken sausage. I didn't know a person could make brownies using only a can of black beans and a brownie mix. I'm not saying that these discoveries have made my life more fun, but it is my hope that they will begin to improve the quality of my life.
I decided to make turkey chili this evening, and threw in some hot dogs and a chicken sausage for me. When it came time to put the hot dogs in a bun and turn them into chili cheese dogs, I had to search for the hot dogs - which had sunk to the bottom of the pot of chili. My chicken sausage, on the other hand, was floating on the top. I still can't tell you why it was less dense than the other entrails-based food products in the pot of chili. It just floated. I decided that's because it was "light", and I hoped it was going to make me light too. I mean, I already float just fine. But I guess I don't want to float so easily anymore. Anyway...
This is the week of Thanksgiving. We have decided to try to start a family tradition in conjunction with the upcoming holiday that involves making a strip of a paper chain each night - on it is written one thing for which we are thankful. Each of us writes on a chain link each evening at dinner time. We plan to keep doing this until Christmas and to use it to decorate our house for Christmas.
Tonight was our first night of paper chaining. Austin insisted on a green strip with an "army green" marker with which he wrote, "DOG" with emphasis. Claire, who was sitting next to him, wrote, on her pink strip with her pink marker, "GOD". At first, I wasn't sure if she was just copying off of Austin with a little dyslexia rolled in there. But she was the first to tell me about what she wrote. Sadie and I also wrote something about God or Jesus, and Mark wrote, "FAMILY" on his red strip. Levi wasn't quite sure what the phrase "What are you thankful for?" even meant, but finally he succumbed to the power of suggestion and said, "DAD" (on whose lap he was sitting). So I wrote that down for him. Violet had disappeared from the table shortly after devotions and had wandered off from her plate. What had been a chili cheese dog (without the bun), on Violet's plate, had been reduced to beans, cheese, and tomatoes. We decided as a family that Violet is thankful for "MEAT".
Our supper table reading had to do with anchors and how they hold you fast to where you want to be - usually in safety. As Christians, our anchor is not down to the depths of the sea... He is up - enthroned in the highest of heaven. He, at the same time, holds us in one place (safety and security) and takes us beyond ourselves to an infinitely better place - a place where we not only answer to a Higher Power but to where we are able to enjoy deep relationship with Him. He is the fulfillment of our hopes.
This month (and always) I am thankful for thousands of things, not the least of which are chicken sausages, my Anchor, and other "Hopes" that float.
