Vegan For Lent: Week One

It's funny how we venture just a few steps at a time, and after a few years, realize how far down a path we've come that we never intended to go. This is certainly the case for me with food. I would have never thought that I would even consider eating a vegan diet for six weeks. Anyone who knows me would know that my love for cheese would have surely trumped that idea. It's interesting how it's usually the small steps that take us the farthest. 

In this case, I'm not sure exactly where I am headed. Looking at it from the outside, it seems a very strange thing to me to look at food as a potential source for spirituality. And that source having less to do with exactly what I eat than simply the thoughtfulness behind it. As I get older, though, I find that it's increasingly important for me to see an integration among the daily activities within my life. I don't really have time for superfluous- I'd rather expend my energy doing things that are integrated within the values I hold in life. I think about this a lot when it comes to how I parent my kids, or the kind of wife I try to be. I think about it with my job. Those are the biggies, of course, but that intentionality is starting to trickle in to some of the other daily, but less obvious activities of life. Activities such as eating. Exercising. Practicing hospitality. 

I'm not interested in spiritualizing something, simply for the sake of it. I've been around those sorts of folks who insist on placing a sort of "godliness" about everything they do... and I guess if that leads them to a place of gratitude, so be it. I'm simply trying to understand the inherent interconnectedness within what we do with our bodies, our emotions, our intellect, and our soul. It's no secret that sex, for example, isn't simply a physical act which doesn't impact the other areas of our being. And so I wonder, does the same go for the way we eat? 

I didn't begin a vegan diet because I believe that to tap into the spirituality of eating requires a moral stance on the content of our plate. I truthfully began it because a good friend suggested it. And when she suggested it, she put it in the context of being conscious of what we are preparing, and enjoying the abundance of great flavors the earth has to offer. So for me, Vegan For Lent isn't about deprivation or fasting. I'm certainly not approaching it as such. God knows this week I've enjoyed the silkiness of avocados, the sweetness of slowly roasted bell peppers and the satisfying earthiness of portobello mushrooms. I'm simply looking to prepare our meals thoughtfully, and wondering aloud how what I eat impacts all the layers of Me.