dialogues on sacrifice...

My wife and I have been having a lot of dialogue about the sacrifice part of simple and sacrificial living. I want to go beyond simplifying my life - I want to do it with purpose. I want to experience the closeness with God that comes from giving something up; sacrificing something so that others may benefit. I suggested that we give up red meat for a period of time, like the first week of every month. After a lengthy debate after breakfast (bacon, eggs, and french toast, by the way) Dawn suggested that We eat red meat only once a week for a month. I realized during our conversation that food is definitely something that we don't evaluate. It is not even something that my wife and I look at in our life. It is one of the things that our society is awkward addressing. Sure, we talk about the food pyramid and carbohydrates, but do we really evaluate our eating habits? Do we look at all the food in our grocery stores and wonder why there is so much available and so many people are hungry? Food, money, sex, and religion are all subjects that we skirt around and only look at the easy parts. That is alright for most of the world, but I claim to be trying to follow the teachings of Jesus and have a healthier relationship with God. So aren't I required to be more evaluative? Shouldn't I examine my actions and constantly adjust my lifestyle so that it comes that much closer to the one that Jesus led? I can make wrong decisions, I can fail at the attempts to improve, I can even turn my back on God and look with lust at the world, and God will wait patiently for me as I indulge my humanity. But I have done all of those things, and I know what my life looks like when indulgence is at the center. It is a life that denies my design and keeps me from experiencing the peace that is at the core of a relationship with God. And I want that peace. In order to achieve it, though, I have to commit to opening up these conversations, even if it means havign hard conversations about what we eat with my wife. So, in an effort to find a starting place, we will only be eating red meat on Fridays this month. this is essential in meeting our financial goal of a $120 grocery bill, and it provides some degree of intent to our experiment.

We will need to go to the store tomorrow, so my month will ofiicially begin there. I will be posting the receipt totals from my grocery trips and giving some examples of meals and snacks that we are trying in order to meet our new standard.