it’s been multi-tasking (x500) week here. I both love and hate it – I have a strange obsession with being maximally effective and efficient at all times, so the fact that I now have to get thirty different tasks completed each day is somehow wonderful, because I feel like I’m pushing myself as far as I can go, really exploring my limits as a person, and I also feel like I’m tapping into a whole new realm of possibilities for myself. But I hate it because I feel like I’m about to collapse. Constantly. My devotional yesterday was really relevant and inspiring, though, especially in this time of life. In summary, both my devotional and my scripture reading really pointed to God giving us our daily bread, but never beyond what we needed for that day. The scripture story I focused on was the one in Exodus, where He provides the Israelites with manna, to supply them with not only ample, but also good, food while they’re wandering in the desert (as a result of their own doing, and with excessive complaining. God’s grace shocks me most in Old Testament readings these days, oddly enough). However, when some of them try to store up enough manna to last them tomorrow as well, it goes bad and gets maggots. Even though that fact only warrants a few lines of text, it really spoke volumes to me, because I’m such a little Israelite in that regard – I spend so much time scurrying around, trying to make sure I’ve not only completely provided for today, but also for tomorrow and five years from now and oh, I’ve got retirement all figured out too. Self-sufficiency is one of my biggest struggles. I want to be able to do it completely on my own, and to make sure that I can be doing it for as long as I need to. Yesterday, however, God was really gentle and loving in reminding me that, no, actually, He’s got it, and he’s given me a portion of it (whatever it really is?), but just enough to last for this day. He’s got tomorrow taken care of too, but that provision will come tomorrow. A hard lesson, but oh, what freedom!
Anyway, these pictures make me laugh, because they really reminded me of what a crazy week it’s been. I excused myself from a lot of school this week, as it’s the end of the semester and I’ve got quite a few skip days stored up (I kept pushing them off, I knew once the weather got nice I’d never want to be in class, and I was dead right); however, I’ve had so much work to do that it hasn’t really been a break from anything at all. However, the other morning, I decided to set some time aside to do a few things in the kitchen, like bake some bread (previous post) and make some jam to put on it, and make some fun and interesting meals. This is how I calm myself down these days, I guess I’m secretly a thirty year old housewife. But setting time aside wasn’t completely an option. So, in addition to making bread and jam and stuff, plus painting all of my spice jars (a ridiculous task, but something I wanted to do before moving), I was making calls, writing papers, and generally running around trying to multi-multi-task. So I’m on the phone with all of these New Yorkers trying to schedule meetings while trying to paint a straight line and running around making sure my jam isn’t boiling over and trying not to be late to go in for my other job and also angsting about all of the papers I’m not writing. Happy days. Not sure I really got much completed as a result of this mess, but the jam is really good! It’s ridiculously simple – mash and boil oranges, pour half of the mix into the blender for a little bit more fluid of a texture, then add a bit of thyme (my current go-to spice, but basil would also be really nice…), sea salt, and a pinch of honey. Delish. It’s got a bit of a bite to it, but I based the idea off of these orange/herb/gin drinks I’ve been making, so that I could enjoy the combo moins gin. It’s awesome on Sarah’s Life Changing Bread.
Lindley Battle 