It’s Not About Me

It’s Not About Me, its for the Holy Spirit

As support staff, I usually work behind the scenes, often doing the things to prep for a meeting or event. Things like logistics, handling the RSVPs, tracking deadlines; the stuff seldom seen and certainly not seen by the people we serve. Many things I do appear seamless to the staff, yet to the people they serve, it’s well received. I might stand at the copier making 200 copies of this, or folding and hole-punching that. Sometimes it seems mundane or same old same old, or simply thankless. I’m just doing whatever it is I do, and whatever is needed, and whatever is asked of me. That’s the nature of the job for the support team.

Sometimes when I begin to feel that my work doesn’t really matter, I call on the Holy Spirit to remind me, “it’s not about me.” When I don’t get to see the fruits of my labors, or who ultimately will see or use those 200 copies, I remember it’s not about me. Yet, I know what I do matters to those who we encounter and accompany. I hope that I may be creating holy moments for others. 

I’m really lucky; my job is working for the church. I know that in doing the work of the church, I can touch more people, and it gives my life meaning and purpose. It helps me to see the face of Jesus in whatever I do, and I imagine that my hands and heart are guided by the Holy Spirit. Truth is, it’s not about me – it’s about Jesus, and the holy moments we encounter serving Him, through serving others.

One of my favorite things is, when I help out at an event – handling registrations, doing set up and clean up; I go to the exit doors to thank people for attending. I like to ask if they had a good day, or did they have a favorite session? I love the opportunity to experience holy moments in hearing their positive thoughts. I enjoy seeing one more smile and receiving their well wishes. I see many holy moments in their words and kindness.

I like to think of myself as a product of servant leadership. I’ve had so many excellent teachers, coaches and mentors along the way, I hope I’ve been able to use their example and encouragement, to see the value in putting God’ work above my own. Some of my best times at work started out as chaos, but in the end revealed themselves as being the hands of Jesus. I hope I create holy moments for others. I believe that serving others gives me holy moments. I hope that you, no matter what your role in life, can discover holy moments every day and that you experience the love of Jesus in everything you do.

 

Missionary Discipleship: More than Church Buzzwords

Pope Francis talks a lot about discipleship, and even more so of missionary discipleship. But what does that mean? In the reality bites, keep it simple, summarize it for me culture we live in, what’s the 10 cent version? In real life, how do we translate the “new buzzwords.”

I think it’s pretty simple, and yet we try to complicate it. Let me share my two cents, okay make that ten cents, version.

In one of Matthew Kelly’s talks, he says the saints were real people who modeled the life of Jesus for us. If you were asked how you model the heart, hands and life of Jesus for others, how would you answer? And, if your answer is, “I go to church on Sunday as often as I can and donate to the collection basket,” is that discipleship? Is that the heart and hands of our Lord? Oh, I know the answer, “I never miss Sunday church and volunteer as an usher, a greeter, and sing in the choir.” Getting warmer, that is, if Jesus wanted the Apostles to spread the good news to the currently faithful, and only within the walls of your church. The key here is modeling Jesus to others.

Yeah, I’m with you, when you say no to walking around the neighborhood with pamphlets knocking on doors. And I’m not one to casually ask someone if they believe what I believe. Or easily discuss my prayer life or dwell deep into theology. But, am I willing to put the church picnic sign in my yard, wear my church T-shirt to the farmers market, or help serve the homeless shelter meal?

When Pope Francis talks about caring for and helping others, he’s asking us to be bold enough to set aside our differences in religion and look beyond the walls of our church at the great big world around us. And if we can’t fathom how to care for the world, maybe we could start with our neighborhoods, our cities or towns. Our opportunities to improve the lives of those less fortunate are endless.

I confess I’m a good one for throwing money at a cause and calling it benevolence. I participate in all the fundraising, reverse collections, and giving tree charities in my congregation. I buy the Girl Scout cookies. I do the 5k walk for cancer research, and proudly wear their T-shirt. These are all good ways of giving back, yet is it enough? Does it speak the words and works of Jesus? Will I proudly wear my religion on my T-shirt?

Maybe Pope Francis is suggesting we proudly display our faith the way we display our flag. Maybe he’s saying, we needn’t be afraid to get our hands dirty to help others know we care. And when the opportunity arises to talk about how you’re church got involved in a community service project, you’ll model to others how your faith affects your actions.

And maybe, just maybe, the more often you and your church community are out in your “parish mission field,” you will impact changing hearts and minds, leading others to the kingdom of God.

________

Photo from BuzzFeeds, social experiment of a staffer.

Dynamic Catholic, Matthew Kelly

Leaders that follow

Survived cruise doing LCHF (primal style)

The hubby and I are following an eating plan I can embrace and we’re both doing really well on it and losing weight (yeah!). With the dreaded all you can eat cruise buffet looming about, I thought we would end up throwing caution to the wind on our vacation. But no – we made a deal to do our best to stay focused. My hubby, the bread lover, said one roll with dinner would be his cheat carb. My cheat would be an occasional dessert. Turns out we were both wrong, and the better for it.

Started our Holland America cruise with the welcome back mariner lunch. The waiter happily removed the bread basket upon request. Dessert was a cheese plate (not a cheat at all). Then dinner, the man had his roll and then asked the server to take it away. I had no sugar added ice cream for a treat, one scoop. So far so good.

The next day was a sea day, tea time rolled around. Mister wanted tea. I was skeptical about avoiding all the cakes. First tray is passed, I spotted a tartlet piled with fresh fruit. I’ll have one of those and my strategy began to unfold. I can eat the fruit and skip the tartlet crust. Next comes the canapés. Lovely meats, lox, cheese and cucumbers on bread rounds. No problem, load me up, I’ll leave behind the breads. I wish I had snapped a pic of my bread stack, we competed to see who erected the best tower!

I kept thinking about the nice couple who were gluten free because of celiac disease and would bring special cereal and bread to Bfast. Imagine if the canapés were served on rice crackers, or watermelon wedges, cucumber slices. etc.

We enjoyed the fancy Asian restaurant, ordered sans rice, no breading, etc. The servers asked if we had allergies or special diet needs. At every meal I asked for substitutions for the starches, no problem. I was never disappointed in a meal. Granted I probably ate more calories per day than I would have at home, but to offset that we walked our 10k steps or more every day.

That was first vacation I returned from not concerned about gaining weight, and the two pounds I put on didn’t set me back from my goal one iota. I’m loving the primal life!

“Nordstrom method” jeans shortening

Used the “Nordstrom method” to shorten my new jeans from the Buckle. I’m not only very pleased with how great the hem looks, but super thrilled I can buy jeans at the Buckle! I saw their sign for curvy fit and thought, what the heck. So I started w the biggest sizes and the sales gal sold me into a smaller size than I thought imaginable (Yeah me and my hard work weight loss!). When I mentioned to the sales gal that I could shorten them and nip them at the waist – she offered me a job tailoring hems for the store. Funny!

Here’s what the “Nordstrom method” looks like when done. I watched this YouTube vid shorten jeans the euro/tricky way and it seemed easier than buying the right two threads for the trapunto stitching and then sanding the hem to make it look aged. Funny thing is, the Buckle offers hemming for free. But I wanted my jeans now, and it was a fun, easy learning opp. Yeah!

Jeans to shorts

Started going thru the closets to rotate winter to summer clothes, and thought it wise to see what still fits. Found this pair of jeans that I thought would look better as cut offs. I found inspiration from a DIY blog where they used an angle cut vs. straight across which drapes more naturally. So I cut them, double folded a cuff and tacked the cuff in four places. Easy easy.

My Frostie Fake Addiction!

I recently had my “first” ice cream cone from McDonalds. Every time I drive by a Micky D I consider stopping in for another 160 cal treat. Then I spotted a recipe on-line for a fake frosty. My recipe is so delish I could live on them! I changed the recipe a bit from what I found online, and switched and changed it up a bit to find a flavor that works for me. Normally I’m not a big smoothie fan, as I like something to chew when having a snack. But these smoothies are yummy and the perfect substitute for a fatter version shake.

My recipe for 115 calories of goodness is:
1 cup unsweetened almond/coconut milk
1/2 of a frozen banana
1 tbs chocolate fudge SF FF dry pudding mix
Handful of ice

If I want to make it a meal, I add a scoop of vanilla whey protein. I found it easiest to peel the banana before freezing, cause peeling a frozen banana was not easy and a bit messy. Now I’m thinking about trying to make it with H2O instead of milk to save the 45 calories. Maybe my next one…

A twist on kielbasa and sauerkraut

Decided to make an old favorite recipe for dinner, my kielbasa and sauerkraut Dijon dish. I like it because it’s a quick and easy one pot dinner. The original recipe calls for sliced kielbasa, Dijon mustard, sauerkraut and sour cream. The only problem was that I was out of kielbasa and had only 1/2 a jar of sauerkraut left. But I did have a lot of leftover chicken and a can of artichoke hearts.

Here’s what I did (and I must say it was fabulous!)

Ingredients
3 slices bacon
1/2 a small onion chopped
8 oz cooked and chopped chicken
1/4 c Dijon mustard
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
1/2 a small jar or can of sauerkraut
1/2 cup sour cream

I fried up 3 slices of bacon til crisp. Set them aside on paper towel and broke up into bits. I poured most of the bacon fat out of the skillet, and added 1/2 a small chopped onion and sautéed til soft. I added 8 ounces or so of chopped chicken and the bacon bits. I then added about a 1/4 cup of Dijon mustard to the skillet. I squeezed the juice out of the 1/2 jar of sauerkraut and added to the pan. I opened the can of quartered artichoke hearts, squeezed the juice out and added to the pan. Last I added 1/2 a cup of sour cream and mixed til thoroughly blended and heated through.

That’s it. 7 ingredients and 20 minutes for a simple and yummy dinner. I think I prefer the new recipe over the original.

Ranch cauliflower

With eating just protein and veggies for another week, I’ve had to get more creative with my meals. I’m a huge fan of cauliflower. I love it simply steamed with butter and lightly mashed. I also like it puréed with half and half like mashed potatoes. We sometimes use a little butter, milk and cheese powder to make cheesy cauliflower. But my latest passion is for ranch cauliflower. My sister’s kids used to pour ranch dressing on everything. Her kids would eat any vegetable as long as it could be dipped in ranch sauce.

Taking a page from my sister’s book, I experimented with a ranch sauce for cauliflower and my hubby and put away a whole head of the good stuff in one sitting. Here is the super easy recipe.

Wash and chop a head of cauliflower and place in a steamer bag following the steamer instructions.
In a saucepan on med heat, mix 1 Tbs butter, 2 Tbs cream cheese, 3 Tbs half and half and 1/2 a pack of dry ranch dressing powder. Stir until cream breaks down and you have a smooth sauce. Chop or mash the cauliflower and mix into the sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Mothers, Daughters, and Food

I’ve seen lots of postings from women who grew up with moms that lived good examples for healthy lifestyles. I wish I were one of those women. It took my mom until she was on her late 60’s to unlearn most of the bad habits she developed over the years and get to her weight goal.

Mom was a yo yo dieter. She was a very thin young women, but by the time she had her first three (of six) kids she was starting to plump up, maybe 20 extra lbs. When I was little I thought my mom was beautiful, not glamorous beautiful, but pretty and wholesome beautiful. I didn’t see why she would put herself thru these harsh diets. When an event was coming up, she’s go on Dr. Stillman’s Water Diet, eating stuff like cottage cheese, meat patties, lettuce, and washing the syrup off canned peaches. She’d spend most of her time in bed too, either to avoid the hunger pangs or from starvation exhaustion.

When she did embark on an exercise plan it’d be some weird calisthenics where she would swing her legs around, or row like a boat across the floor. We’d have fun watching and mimicking the weird moves.

As I got older and struggled with my weight I realized i had many of the same bad habits like eating standing up, grazing on junk, filling up on white bread and rice. I became interested in cooking light and started buying books on healthy cooking, plus I got into Jazzercise. Around this time, mom embarked on a walking regimen, which nudged her to rethink some of her food habits.

When I got into a weight loss plan, mom asked me share my info with her. Our weight was our bond. Later I joined WW and again shared all the materials with her. It wasn’t until many years later, when Mom had a friend in WW that she became seriously interested in healthier eating. She joined Curves with her friend. That’s when I bought her a membership to WW. She filled her house with healthy faire. She always left a few bites on her plate. She started to see the difference in a healthy lifestyle vs a diet. She was making the connection of healthy diet, healthy behaviors, healthy person. Mom hit her weight goal at age 70. A life long battle for her, and finally success. I was so thrilled for her and how she stayed focused for a year or so to slowly get there.

I wish she would have made the mind-body-food connection while I was still an impressionable girl, but I guess I’ve had to learn the lessons on my own. And I keep on learning…

Ever feel like you’ve been on a perpetual diet?

Ever Feel Like You’ve Been on a Perpetual Diet?

The other day, When my trainer asked me what my thinnest adult weight was, it got me thinking about when I started on the “diet” mentality track. And really, when I stop and think about it, I’ve been perpetually dieting since I was 17! That’s a long time, 34 years of dieting. I’ve lost and gained probably hundreds of pounds in 34 years if you add it all up.

When I think about some of the whacked out diets I tried….
There was the cabbage soup diet, the banana tuna something diet, the fruit juice diet, the stupid attempt at bulimia diet, the starvation diet, the fat free diet, the “counting your chews” diet, the Living Lite diet, the Richard Simmons diet.

Then I also tried the Nutri-System plan, the Weight Watchers diet (starting when they first began using points instead of calories), the South Beach Diet, the Zone diet. There’s also the acid reflux prevention diet, the gluten free diet, the low glycemic diet, the block menu diet.

Oh and let’s not forget the diet supplements, Sensa, hoodia, chromium, the ephedrine type stuff, the Sensa shaker, and the latest green coffee bean extract. And now the combination of Primal Blueprint & Paleo diet.

Next week my trainer wants to introduce me to a new strict eating plan to see if we can shake of about 10-20 more pounds. So here I go on another “diet”. Sometimes I wonder, what would it be like to just eat what I want and stop at satisfied (when I get that sigh). I’d never consider eating dessert unless I were to make it a meal, cause I seldom make it through a whole meal to the end leaving room for dessert. Of course, there are times when I ignore the full signs and keep eating cause it tastes so good. And then the portion sizes will start to get bigger and bigger. Hmm – there’s got to be a better way than this perpetual diet cycle I’m on!