How do we stay faithful to our intentions? Yesterday I nearly lost my will to juice fast. I developed a case of hunger that nearly took me over. Michael had gone to the post office leaving me alone with the smell of lunch still lingering in the air. Kim, our cook, had out done herself at lunch serving up a delicious Tofu manicotti. When this tofu dish is made correctly you cannot tell if from the cheese dish.
When I’m juice fasting I seldom go into the kitchen or join the others at the lunch table. It is much easier for me to just ignore anything to do with food. Yesterday I went too long between drinks. I broke the number one rule of juice fasting, I let myself become hungry. Not only was I starved but I was alone in a house full of food. I will admit I went into the kitchen with every intention of finding something to eat. When I opened the fridge the fresh fruit juice was setting big as day on the shelf. Ok, I’ll make a glass of Superfood first, I decided. Then I’ll eat something.
The juice was very satisfying. I drank it slowly setting in my favorite chair in the living room. As I got up to put my glass away I realized my appetite was completely satisfied. What saved me? I wish I could say, will power, but I’d already decided to eat something. In my heart I really did not want to break my fast. The little decisions we can still make are the ones that will save us in a pinch. I did not tell myself I could not eat; I made the decision to have a glass of Superfood in fresh fruit juice first.
In our lives, most of us will have our circumstances turned around many times. The downturns may be beyond our control and independent of our personal actions. Life’s lessons must be learned. If we fail to learn them during the good times, the Father will take us over the same track again and again, until we learn what He is trying to teach us.
The decision has been made, you want to make a difference in the world. Choosing to expand yourself beyond the small circle of family and friends who make up your community. How does it feel? What does it mean to stand up? It means to recognize and answer the call when it comes. Often the appeal is first heard as a quiet thought or conviction of heart. These are easily ignored or blown off as a passing whim for many, but to those who have chosen over and again to “Rise & Shine” when called, the passing whisper of thought is enough. They take hold of the good to be done charting the road for others to follow in their wake.
Exploring the depths of our inner world is the most important journey we can take. The study of myself has been the most important I have ever pursued. I have gotten to know myself through examining the early experiences in my life and reconciling the emotional fallout. An understanding of the damage done to the child I was has allowed me to let go of some long held misunderstandings about my responsibility for the abuse I endured. The contempt I held toward myself has been replaced with knowledge and forgiveness. Compassion for the teenager I was has replaced the shame and contempt I had felt toward myself. Throughout the years, as my teachers have passed through my life, they have each endeavored to lift me above my shame. Each was holding a piece of my personal puzzle, and answers to questions I had not even known to ask.
“Whatever Good May Come”
We humans do not value what has not been hard earned. We look up to those of experience who have “been there”, “done that”; those who somehow survived the worst and appear to have made it through emotionally and physically intact.
