It has made me contemplate why something so simple as food has provoked such a strong reaction among us, and these are my thoughts.
Just a few months ago, my kitchen had a completely different landscape. Remember this post?
Then, I started making my own bread because it sounded like fun, and then I started taking an ecourse on traditional food preparation, and before I knew it, I was hooked!
I have eliminated almost all processed foods from our kitchen with the exception of the things that I buy for Bill at his request, and I am truly loving it!
However, just over a year ago, I met a woman who was very into traditional food prep, making her own laundry detergent, etc. She is a good friend of a family member, and every time I would hear about something regarding her granola lifestyle, I would literally roll my eyes.
I had such a strong reaction to hearing about the things that she did, that at one point, I actually
I probably owe this woman an apology even though none of my
My mom then said something to me that really struck a chord. She said that sometimes my passion for my faith makes her feel the same way I felt about this woman and her passion for traditional food prep and natural living.
I was bothered by her comment, but then it hit me...
When we exhibit a passion for our Catholic faith, those who are lukewarm often have a defensive knee jerk reaction. It forces them to examine their own way of doing things and justify their own decisions and choices. This is often uncomfortable and difficult especially since it involves morality.
Thankfully, food is not a moral issue unless we are discussing gluttony, but it still brings out the same defensive reactions.
I was sensitive to hearing about food choices so different from my own at the time because they were presented with a deep passion. I couldn't help feeling like I was making the wrong food choices because others were so confident that they had made the right choice which was different from my own.
It's just food! Right?
YES!
I laugh at myself now because these days I am doing the very things that I was rolling my eyes about before.
However, the bottom line is that we as human beings and especially women are so prone to comparing ourselves to others.
Whether it is our family size, our clothing choices, our parenting style, or our food choices, we make it so difficult on ourselves when we allow ourselves to feel inadequate next to someone else's choices or circumstances.
Another, lovely blogger had the wisdom to post a brilliant quote on her blog the other day, and it really resonated with me.
It said, "Don't let comparison steal your joy."
BRILLIANT!
It doesn't matter if you always have Doritos in your cabinet or if you make crackers from scratch. It doesn't matter if you buy white Wonder bread or are passionate about making your own soaked whole wheat bread .
We all have our own passions and talents, and we make the best decisions we can for our husbands and families. The most important thing is that we support each other in our passions (as long as they are moral, of course)!
Leila is passionate about teaching others about our Catholic faith, Danya is passionate about organization ;), Jenny is passionate about Daisy, Faith Makes Things Possible is passionate about crafting, Joy Beyond the Cross is passionate about the saints, and I could go on and on and on because we have such a wonderful group of amazing bloggers who each bring a unique element to our community!
We are all passionate about our Catholic faith, and that passion binds this community together. It is such a beautiful thing!
Love to you all!
For some reason, this made me tear up! Thank you for this, and you are so right!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post Monica! Sometimes I think we Catholics are food obsessed because we are Eucharist obsessed. We think A LOT about what we put in our bodies, what we expose ourselves and our children to, what we put in our minds...etc. We are all trying to be good stewards of our gifts! You are so right to say that we CAN disagree on the "how we do it" but the spirit of wanting what is truly good is certainly what we all share.
ReplyDeleteSo true! I stayed far away from that discussion (though, in the interest of full disclosure, I agree with you!) because it's such a polarizing topic. Much like vax'ing, circ'ing, attachment parenting, EBF'ing, homeschooling, what brand of NFP we use, Latin Mass or English Mass...there's no moral high ground on any of these...just different ways of living our vocations as parents, as spouses and as Catholics. Variation and difference here is the spice of life! I'm grateful that this blogging community exists where we all agree on the most fundamental things and allows our differences to give us interesting opportunities to exchange thoughts and see outside ourselves a bit.
ReplyDeleteI love this! You are so right. Each of us is special with our own gifts and talents.
ReplyDeleteWell said Megan!
ReplyDeleteYes! I also love this. Thank you for writing this post!
ReplyDeleteSo, so true! What a great post! And I am terrible when it comes to the comparison thing... ugh... one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that one of the biggest things that prompted me to write the post I did was that I was getting emails and phone calls from people doing just that - getting upset bc they were comparing what they were doing to what others were doing and feeling like they were doing everything wrong! So thank you for sharing this! :)
ReplyDeleteThank god we have a pope!!!! LOL. Sew
ReplyDeleteAmen, sister!
ReplyDeleteLike Mrs Mike, I stayed far out of the debates, but was amused by the passion nonetheless. I also feel personally that the reason I'm blogging, and why I'm a member of this community, is for a COMPLETELY different reason altogether, and frankly it irked me that almost my entire blogroll of "infertility support" blogs were full of food talk. Um, who cares? Likely not any of my readers who are googling to find my blog, trying desperately to find people who know what infertility feels like.
I think your analogy here of people's food choices to how they view their faith lives is amazing and dead on. And I would take it a step further to say that those who are doing what seems to be "extreme" in many eyes are not at all trying to "judge" those who aren't making the same choices, or making them do things exactly the same way. But just by example, seeing how happy and passionate the "granola" are, is enough to make those who aren't quite as extreme feel like maybe they're missing something, hence becoming defensive.
Great post.
TCIE
Very True! Me? Passionate about Daisy?? Where did you get that from?? Hehehehehe.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Megan, I think you hit the nail on the head! What a beautiful faith we have that there are so many awesome things to be passionate about!!!!
ReplyDeleteTCIE: I don't agree that we who aren't "granola" feel defensive because we're missing something. That's definitely not it for me at least. I'm just not of the same mindset. I think you said it best Megan that we are so prone to comparing and it can leave those who aren't of the same mindset to feel like we're doing something very very wrong. But I don't want to perpetuate the argument! You summed it up beautifully.
ReplyDeleteAmazing post! I agree with you-most all of us are passionate about something and that's great and that definitely binds us all together.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this! You are great!
Happy Feast Day!!
ReplyDelete