No meat, no problem?

I feel like my posts have had a more sober tone lately. I’m going to blame that on winter and the excessive rain we’ve had these past few months. As much as I hate what the time change does to our bodies in its wake, I love how much longer and lighter it makes the evenings. Already I can tell a difference in the girls’ attitudes—and mine—since the sun has made a few appearances and we are getting outside more often.

Now that we can almost taste spring, I think we’re all feeling a bit like new people. In fact, the 1st Grader is feeling so refreshed that she has announced she’s making some lifestyle changes.

Our conversation while we were grocery shopping last week…

1st Grader: Did you know I’m a vegetarian now?
Me: Um, I did not.
1st Grader: Well, I am.
Me: Since when?
1st Grader: Since today.
Me: Oh, OK.

10 minutes later as we’re driving home…

1st Grader: Can we go through Chick-fil-a and get me a kids’ meal?
Me: I thought you were a vegetarian.
1st Grader: I am. I just want 6 nuggets.
Me: Well, chicken nuggets are meat.
1st Grader {with her head down in remorse}: Oh, no! I had chicken for lunch and I’M A VEGETARIAN!!
Me: Well, maybe you can be a vegetarian tomorrow.

The next day she spent the night with my mom. At dinner she pouted and worried whether she should eat the grilled chicken she ordered since she was exploring a new lifestyle. But when I called to check in on her the next morning she happily reported that she had enjoyed several pieces of bacon for breakfast.

The struggle is real. And I don’t yet have the heart to tell her that pork is kind of taboo for a vegetarian. An additional concern for her is that she doesn’t actually like vegetables, so I question how well a diet centered on them is going to work out for her.

Her quest to embrace a new eating regimen reminds me of my own attempts to order the healthier choice when put on the spot. For example, every time I meet someone at Starbucks and the barista says, “What can I get started for you today?” My head {and maybe even my heart} orders an iced green tea, but my mouth orders a coconut milk mocha macchiato. Or like when I go to the hipster bakery on the other end of town and they ask from behind the glass counter, “What can we get for you?” My head/heart orders a quinoa bowl. Everything in me knows that this is a good decision. But my mouth? It orders a homemade berry pop tart.

It happens to the best and most determined of us. Change is just hard. And we are all, as Paul says, prone to “do that which we don’t want to do.”

Along these same lines, I told the Spouse last week that I don’t really like writing devotional content. The main reason is that when I do, I feel a disconnect between who I appear to be and who I really am. I have him read nearly everything I post here before I hit “publish” to make sure what I’m saying is understandable, but also to make certain it’s an accurate portrayal of our real life. He knows better than anyone that I can write a sweet post and attach a Bible verse to it, but I can also be passive aggressive or yell at the girls all the way out the door in the mornings. It’s important to me that I always make that clear.

It’s also important to me that you know I saw a bumper sticker last week and have never felt more convicted by the car in front of me. It looked like this:

I have a tendency, we’ll call it, to tailgate. This especially happens on the days when I don’t allow enough time to get from wherever I am to the carpool line at the girls’ school in good time. So I hope the driver I came upon last week knows that I read their sticker. And, I’m thinking about it and feeling a little convicted about it still.

I’m also still thinking about whether the sticker should read “this close” or “this closely”? Does it even matter? All I know is I was plenty close enough to see it without squinting.

If you’re gearing up for spring break, I hope you have a restful one whether you stay at home, leave town, or do a little of both. Wherever we are next week, may we all remember to extend grace to ourselves and those around us when we forget we’re a vegetarian. And when we follow the car in front of us too close/closely.