It's Cleanse Time!

“All things are lawful for me”, but not all things are helpful.  “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything.  Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food—and God will destroy both on and the other.  1 Corinthians 6: 12-13

 

A few weeks ago, my roommates and I talked about doing a cleanse.  We have all thought about doing it in the past, individually, but never actually pursued it.  I think people do that a lot.  “Man, it’d be so cool to just move randomly to a new place.  Start fresh, be spontaneous.”  “I should dye my hair bright blue.”  “I should only eat fruits and vegetables for a couple weeks so my body can feel better.”  You know, stuff that’s ultimately good for you but takes some fear-conquering and perseverance.  Well it would’ve been just another someday conversation, except Brittany, the little punk that she is, decided it was actually going to happen and kept asking for a specific start date!  Grr.

 

That start date is today.  We’ll be eating only fruits and vegetables and drinking water and herbal teas (some of them, detox teas) for two weeks.  We’re allowing ourselves the use of honey and olive oil to make a light salad dressing.  I mean, we have resolve and all, but salad with NO dressing?! 

 

Last night was a fun night for me.  It was prep night.  I got to cut up and bag a bunch of different fruits and veggies.  One failed attempt at making plantain chips, but to be fair, we were out of tinfoil, and it posed a significant problem.  I made a soup containing the greens from the celery and carrots I chopped, half a cabbage, a carrot (I didn’t want to spare any more than that, as carrots are important for snacking), leeks, half an onion, Italian spices, minced fresh garlic (my fingers smell really strongly) and crushed red pepper flakes.  It smelled amazingly like some type of bouillon by the time it was done, and I only used water!  So I’m pretty proud of that one.  It’s mild but good.  I came to work today with a whole grocery bag full of stuff to keep here at work.  A few packs of different berries, a whole gallon ziplock full of bell peppers, several fruits (pears, avocado, apples, clementines).  So we’ll see.  It’s only the first day, so obviously it’s not going to kill me.  But man!  This detox tea is hard to force myself through!  Ah well.  It’s worth it.

 

Last night, I finally got my room re-set up the way I want it and got my floor clean enough to sweep.  Since we moved in, almost a month ago now, my room’s been in various stages of unpacking.  Most recent was the one where several half-full boxes sat in the middle of the room for weeks.  I just moved around them when I needed something, and my cats loved the playground.  Friday night, though, I finally got to it.  I moved my bed from where it was to the place I’d wanted it to be initially.  What allowed me to do that was the purchase of a rolling, freestanding clothing rack and a shelf for some of my shoes, so I was able to get a bulky, wooden armoire out of the room completely.  My room looks so much bigger now, and most importantly, it matches the vision I had for it.  Everything’s in its place, which any woman knows, allows you to sleep better and think clearer.

 

It’s awesome how everything’s so tied together and intricate, how nothing on this earth, no person or mood or experience, is an island unto itself.  Our God is too sovereign for that.  Like Kim would say, like Emily would say, like the Bible says:  This is God’s story, and our role is simple to make much of Him. 

 

So although this cleanse IS about me and my body, it’s also about stewardship.  It’s about discipline.  It’s about consecration.  Laying bare weaknesses and addictions on purpose, because nothing should own us besides our Creator.  There are a million things vying for the attention due Him, and so many of those things I can’t control.  But I can control this one.

 

This is day one, and I’m enthusiastic.  I may be completely crazy by day 5 or 11 or 14, but right now I’m choosing to point to God, to say that He is good, and that this is for His glory and my holiness.  Maybe pray with me that I keep the attention where it should be, on God and on my eventual betterment because of this.

 

Also, I know that me not having a phone makes planning things and communicating with me difficult.  But I think I’m going to keep it this way for a couple more months at least.  The cheaper rent and working my other job is really beginning to pay off, and I have extra money at this point.  BUT I’m realizing how very tied to that phone I was/am.  And like 1 Corinthians said, I want to be mastered by nothing but my Savior and His heart’s desires.  It’s freeing.  But know that I DO miss talking to you all.  Your relationships are the most important things to me, outside of the Lord (and sometimes in place of, which God shows me from time to time), but this is all working together in me for a true cleanse I think.  And I’m happy. 

 

Love you guys!  Wish me discipline!