Sunday, October 19, 2008

It's Empty

Over the last two weeks I have diligently been working on an important project. What is it you ask?

Eating!

Okay, okay...I do love to eat but this was not my entire task. My task was to eat all the food in my refrigerator so that when I leave on Tuesday I don't have to throw out perfectly good food.

I am happy to say that I have accomplished my task. I have two lone lemons, 1 crepe, lunch for Monday and Tuesday, a bottle of unopened wine, some half & half, and a few cloves of garlic in my fridge. That's it.

You would think that this task would be easy but it wasn't. After all, what do you eat when you are left with lemons, garlic, and wine...my guess is make some kind of lemon garlic sauce for pasta?? As you can see...this game can get "interesting" to say the least!

But seriously, over the last two weeks I came to realize that I when say "I have nothing to eat" it usually means "I have food in the pantry and in the fridge but I just don't like my choices"

I also came to realize what huge privileges we have as Americans. As I was washing the fridge shelves I couldn't help but think how lucky I was to own one...after all, much of the world doesn't.

I also came to realize how much luckier I was to always have food in it...after all this is the first time in 2 years that my fridge has ever been truly empty...and it took alot of work and effort on my part to get it that way.

It made me realize how little I need to trust God to provide food for me but how much people in poor countries depend on Him for each and every meal.

Once all of the food was out and the shelves clean I noticed my water filter in the back of my refrigerator. I came to realize how blessed I am that even with an empty fridge all I have to do is put my glass in the door and I get clean filtered water instantly. People in other countries walk for hours and miles to get dirty water.

It made me feel like an ungrateful and overfed American and it made me wonder why if most Americans have so much, how come we give so little to provide for those who can't provide for themselves.

I challenge you to eat through your fridge...don't go out to eat if you don't like the choices, don't go to the store to supplement what you have in it already...just be creative and create meals out of all the food you already have. It will take you a few weeks but it will definitely give you a new perspective. When you fridge is finally empty take an hour or so and wash it out really good and think about what a privilege it is to have all you have.

Don't go out and buy food to fill it up right away. Let it sit empty for a few days and be open to letting God provide your meals for you. You may be like me and discover things in your pantry that you had no idea you had. The sad thing is even with my empty fridge, between my freezer and pantry I still have enough food to provide me at least 3 weeks worth of meals...and here I am still wanting to say that "I don't have any food in my fridge!"

If you take my challenge, let me know how it changes you...

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