A place at the table...

Lent is here, which means Easter is almost here, which means Spring is almost here! YAY, yay, yay. Yay Easter, yay spring, yay new life, yay green growth, yay melting snow, yay warm sunshine on my face!!!!

This year for lent we decided to try something different and it has been awesome. I wouldn't normally share what we have been or haven't been doing for lent but I really want to because it has already been such a great experience.  I especially want to encourage anyone who hasn't given something up or doesn't have a lent focus yet, give this or something along the lines of this a try.  Inspired by the book, A Place at the Table, by Chris Seay, we have been fasting a following a diet similar to the diet of the children we sponsor through World Vision.  The book is nothing crazy, earth shattering or any we haven't read before, but the act of being obedient, willing to change our habits and norms has been.

You can check out his website here chrisseay.net/ if you want more info.

I have fasted before but so far this has been completely different, so much better.  I think mainly because it is not about me or my needs or wants or my small world.  But it is about seeing and better understanding the realities of the world and my very fortunate place in it.  And WOW! I take so much for granted, from the ability to choose between 10 different breakfast items and 35 different snacks, to a warm (and large!) house, the opportunity to work and learn and be free to make choices about everything from the food I will eat to the type of life I will have, but most importantly having a safe and healthy family. The last weeks have been a great lesson in gratitude and awareness, I have been blown away by our blessings and even more blown away by our surplus. We are blessed beyond measure.

So we have been faced with the question of "what are we called to do with our surplus?"

Following historic lent traditions (according to the book), we should take the first 6 days of the week to fast and identify with the poor but we get the 7th day off!!  It should be a day to relax and celebrate the love of our savior and our many blessings.  So today was feast day!  When Lent started, we joked about feast day and how much we were going to look forward to it and how Colin was going to make up for all the lost calories over the week, so he didn't lose any weight.  Although the food was great today, by far the best part of the day was the heightened awareness that we are blessed indeed.  The luxury of delicious food brought to us from all across the world, time with friends-new and old- breath-taking views of where we call home, and clean water.   And while all of these luxuries were amazing, the richest part of our day was the hours we spent recreating outside with Hudson and his little friends...they truly know how to be thankful for each moment of the day. WHAT a DAY!