Relish the Days Ahead...

Hard to believe that my last week of summer has come and gone, the old soap opera, "Days of Our Lives" seems to play in my mind right about now..".just as sands in the hour glass...so our the days of our lives." What do the days of my life and the hour glass ahead have to do with summer and myself? One of them would be that I worked on one of my goals this past summer...making relish and jam. Yes, I am a Great-Aunt-Gladys-Buckner wannabe in my family. I aspire to try out the family recipes that are currently not shared with the "young'ns" because we cannot fully appreciate it...or sell it to Heinz foods...(purely speculation at this very moment.) But I did, try my hand at zucchini relish, with a recipe that I found online as well as black cherry preserves. I must say, that the treats were well worth the cost of $20 it took to purchase all of the red peppers, sweet onions, zucchini, black cherries along with pectin, Splenda and Truvia I needed to accomplish this feat. I tried two different variations of the relish, because the first one I thought was not close enough to Great Aunt Gladys's...hers uses real suga'h and I am thinking she may have added in cucumbers plus poppy seed, not just celery seed due to the sweet flavor hers has. Mine while delish...was still not nearly as good in my mind as hers. Will I eat it? Hell yeah! I seriously sat down with a small cup full and a fork, that good people!

The cherry preserves were well worth the time and effort as well, yet did not make as much as I had hoped...only three small 12 oz. jars, while a double batch of the relish made five and a half quarts. Did not stop me from licking the side of the bowl with a spatula like a child who has never eaten brownie batter. Both recipes which I used, I am hyperlinking as well. Pictures to be added later this week.

Setting up the school year with my first student teacher, D.W....yes, I love it...just like the Arthur series, I am enjoying myself very much. She is unusually quiet right now, I take it that she feels like a small fawn who is currently being led into a wide field full of wonderful experiences yet, full of dangers at the same time. She is unfamiliar with district policies, where resources are located and how to navigate a T-drive...(if not a CS educator, sorry for the reference.) It is my responsibility as the wiser and elder doe to teach her how to cautiously yet successfully navigate around this field so that she may reach the other side a fully developed doe ready to take on the valleys ahead in her career. Rather excited yet nerve racking at the same time.

Knowing that school is next Monday...(Yipes!)...for students, I am currently taking this little bit of free time which I have to journey into the world of the mosaics of my heart and piecing together from the ashes of my death and rebirth the woman that I want to become for the future. I am a new woman and creation, truly...over 20 pounds lighter and yet feeling so invigorated for the new chapters which I am penning even now. The first, is that I have "Gone Red for Public Ed." For those who are not in the public education world, wearing red on Tuesdays is a symbol that you support public education. I have taken it to the next level. I am wearing red day and night for the next 6-8 weeks...how? I went from blonde bomb to sassy strawberry! Not the bright strawberry, more of a strawberry blonde, something, Julia Roberts'eque in my mind...(oooohhhh....oooohhhh....Pretty Woman!) The confidence factor I have been feeling the past week has been wonderful. I am taking the time and effort to try the things that I wanted to yet never felt free enough to try. Even as lame as making relish and black cherry preserves to coloring my hair strawberry blonde the week before school starts. Hello World, Meet the New Erin Meyer!

Currently, my NEW life is being fashioned. It is amazing to see the mosaic which God is creating in my life with the gathering of the shards left of the old life. This new heart which is full of wonder and praise simply wants to honor Him. I will not cease to be in awe at the tapestry he is weaving with the new life that I am creating for myself and continue to seek my Saviour's will in my artistic life's journey.

I have begun on my own, Beth Moore's Esther, It's Tough Being a Woman as well as finishing, "Made to Crave". Made to Crave was something hard for me to start, it was about turning to God rather than to food for comfort. Yet as I delved into the chapters and really took time to peel away at my own thought and food patterns I found that I was cleaning my garden from the inside out and weeding out the lies and transforming myself mentally for the challenge of living a life of maintaining. Lysa Terkeurst really hit this nail on the head with multiple statements thought the book which I have found very powerful. Below, I am going to compose a paragraph simply compiled with her wisdom.

"Getting healthy is not just about having faith, goodness and knowledge. We have to add to that foundation by choosing to be self-controlled and choosing to persevere even when the journey gets hard. We can step on the scale and accept the numbers for what they really are-an indication of how much our body weighs,-and not an indication of our worth. (When someone makes an off comment about another being overweight at 156 lbs...something I would never be...I remind myself...) That statement didn't belong to me. That statement wasn't my issue. I had a choice to make. I could feed that comment and let it grow into an identity crusher; or I could see it for what it was, a careless comment. Saying it's not fair has caused many a girl to toss aside for what she knows to be right for the temporary thrill of whatever it is that does seem fair. And then comes the anger. Anger at herself, anger at the object of her desire (chocolate peanut butter pretzels). Anger even at a might God who surely could have prevented this. I realized that a pity part was a clue I was relying on my own strength, a strength that failed me before, and would fail me again. I am made for more, I am made for victory. Compromise build upon compromise is failure. What if it's actually the very thing, if brought under control that can lead us to a better understanding of God? If I could go to food and never gain an ounce, then what would I need God for? Food was never meant to fill the deepest places of our hearts, that was made for God alone, as well as tying our happy to the wrong thing sets us up for failure every time. Victory is possible sisters, bot by figuring out how to make this an easy process, but my choosing-over and over and over and over again-the absolute power of God's truth. Eventually, I will be able to add some things back in my lifestyle in small quantities, But not yet. All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. So I am not on a diet, I am on a journey with Jesus to learn the fine art of self discipline for the purpose of holiness. This is why at this point it is a spiritual journey and not a diet. Idolatry, in the case of food, means the consumption of ill sized portions and unhealthy choices because we feel like we deserve or need it to feel better. Some actions are not sinful in themselves, but they are not appropriate because they can control our lives and lead us away from God. (Ouch...Thanks for calling out my college years with nightly ice cream runs to Sonic, Braums and DairyQueen.) God told us to be faithful with the bodies we'd been given. We're always one choice away from reversing all the progress we have make. Victory isn't a place that we arrive at and relax. Victory is when we pick something healthy over something not beneficial for us. And we maintain our victories with each next choice. But a victory won't stay for long if I start resisting and disliking her essential requirements of sacrifice and repentance. The most dangerous place for a diet success story is hitting your goal weight, a blessing entangled with a curse. All God's girls have issues. All of us. We haul around a bucketful of issues, mine may be different then yours, but it is a bucket none the less. I can make the choice to identify my shortcomings and instead of using them against myself, hand then over to Jesus and let his chisel my rough places. The grade-filled way that Jesus chisels is so vastly different the the way that I beat on myself. My beatings are full of lies and deceit, HIS chiseling is full of truth and freedom. My victory is not tied as much to the way I've changed physically as the way I have overcome mentally and spiritually. Yes, I have lost pounds and inches, but not being weighed down mentally and spiritually by the constant feeling of defeat is the real victory. (Personal) victory is the sum total of a whole lot of Wise decisions and sacrificial decisions, that are made choice by choice, day by day. Yes, knowing a reward awaits you is crucial."