Daily Bread

As I contemplate the concept of simplicity in the Christian walk and what that is supposed to look like for me I had a thought. Simplicity, affecting all areas of life, affects food and what you eat. I have always been one to stuff my face and to eat all the junk food within my reach. Of course, I still love food that tastes good but I think that there is more to food than that. I think it is where fasting comes into play in the Christian journey. Through fasting you are allowed an opportunity to focus solely on God and give up desires, even the desire to eat. You can freely trust God and know that you will eat again and that you will live through the hunger but only God can truly satisfy you. I had never thought about the fact that food really can become an idol. Our need of food and our desire for food are very different.
Need- to require something because it is essential or very important.
Desire- a strong feeling of wanting to have something.
I have recently been convicted of the idea of eating food as I need it and eating food as I want it. Though I don't think it is bad to enjoy good food and fellowship through that time with others and of course I am not suggesting an unhealthy lifestyle in anyway but actually choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. I  have personally realized that eating to me has become so important that it has been placed over my relationship with my Savior and if He is to be in control of my life that includes everything in my life...even the food I eat.

Shalom

Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World
Richard J. Foster 


"The vision for wholeness and peace, which shines like a beacon of light through the Old Covenant, gives us important insights into Christian simplicity. This theme is wonderfully gathered up in the Hebrew word shalom, a full-bodied concept that resonated with wholeness, unity, balance. Gathering in (but much broader than) peace, it means a harmonious, caring community with God at its center as the prime sustainer and most glorious inhabitant. This great vision of shalom begins and ends our Bible. In the creation narrative, God brought order out of chaos; in the Apocalypse of John, we have glorious wholeness of a new heaven and a new earth. The messianic child to be born is to be the Prince of Peace. Justice and righteousness and peace are to characterize his unending kingdom. Central to the dream of shalom is the wonderful vision of all nations streaming to the mountain of the temple of God to be taught his ways and to walk in his paths; to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Shalom even carries the idea of harmonious unity in the natural order: the cow and the bear become friends, the lion and the lamb lie down together, and a little child leads them. We are in harmony with God-faithfulness and loyalty prevail. We are in harmony with our neighbor- justice and mercy abound. We are in harmony with nature- peace and unity reign. 


Economically and socially, the vision of shalom is captured in what Bishop John Taylor calls "the theology of enough." The greed of the rich is tempered by the need of the poor. Justice, harmony, equilibrium prevail. Shalom's theology means "a dancing kind of inter-relationship, seeking something more free than equality, more generous than equity, the ever-shifting equipoise of a life- system." Excessive extravagance, vaunting ambition, ravaging greed- all are foreign to the complete, contented community of shalom. Under the reign of God's shalom the poor are no longer oppressed, because covetousness no longer rules." 


שָׁלוֹם(Shalom)

Note to self: Go to Coffee Shops more!

           There are some things in life that I strongly feel I will never grow tired of. Today one of those things is, coffee shops. Of course, not the kind of coffee shops that you walk into, get a cup of coffee and then walk out, or the kind that you sit at and read for a little while. I am talking about the true coffee shops, the ones that warm my soul down to the very core. I am talking about the kinds of coffee shops that as soon as you walk into the door you know that you will be there for multiple hours and you will feel more at home then you have in a very long time. At this point in my life I tend to be on a coffee shop ‘hunt.’ You could say that I have become quite the critic of coffee shops. This is because I have been to the best coffee shop (Bongo Billy’s Café-Buena Vista, Colorado) and when you have had the best it immediately makes you into a snob. Therefore, I have a few things that a coffee shop must attain in order to truly be a “good” coffee shop:

1)   Good coffee- no duh! But not just good coffee but coffee that tastes not too fancy, coffee that is fresh and pure. No fake snooty coffee please.

2)   Good space- a coffee shop cannot be too big, nor can it be small. You must be able to feel that while you are in a coffee shop with lots of other people you are still isolated all at the same time but still not too isolated.

3)   Good color selection for the paint on the wall- this may seem silly but the color of the room truly affects your mood when in a coffee shop. Normally light browns and deep reds or oranges are good. You must think fall.

4)   Good seating options- it is great if there is an outside area so that you always have that option, a variety of sizes of tables that can be used for a variety of reasons, and a lounge area and/or booths are always a good addition.

5)   Good music- this is very important! If I feel that I need my i-pod in at a coffee shop it is either because the music is terrible or I don’t want to talk to people. But if a coffee shop has a good mellow selection of music that is perfect for the background of my mind I will be far more productive at whatever I wish to achieve.

6)   Friendly workers- You know that it is a good place when the workers aren’t wearing corporate uniforms but are able to choose what they wear and, when you feel comfortable enough to ask what they recommend for you to order and it becomes a nice conversation.

7)   Vintage-like signs/decorations- this is pretty self-explanatory no froo froo flowers or lame posters hanging on the walls please.

8)   BONUS: ‘to go’ cups vs. ‘for here’ cups- It is always a special place when they have the option of a real mug to drink out of when you choose to stay a while. Makes it more like home.

Coffee shops are magical places. Great things happen there. I get studying done, I get solid reading time, I can blog, I can write whatever I want, I can think, and I can have some nice alone time. All wonderful things that need to happen in order for the world to remain the beautiful place that I often forget that it is.