For My Brave Friend

Woke up with a couple hours sleep yet to fit in, not uncommon for me. Thinking about an upcoming devotional meeting, where the first part is devoted to God, and the second part is devoted to waffles. Fine and good, but people often make scrambled eggs and sausage, yogurt and so on. So my plan is to bring alternative comestibles to share. Still, giving in to the desire to eat those other death-dealing foods was my downfall in the past. I have to remember that just because kind souls provided them, no sausages ever actually leaped into my mouth unaided.

Although my newfound belief in and commitment to saving my eyesight, my hearing, my mind, and my organs and limbs, let alone my life, has given me a new sense of life, and a charge every time I make a choice for life and not death in my food choices, it's easy to lose focus. It's easy for my resolve to become eroded by constant exposure to animal sourced foods. I'm sure eventually it will become second nature to make these choices, as long as I never give in. But it's a white-knuckle experience.

So I was thinking about "getting through" the next few socialization opportunities and retaining this focus, and remembered the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

My enemies being certain foods, of course, not people! And I promise not to dump oil on my head at the table. And I'm still looking for Shirley, Goodness and Mercy. Sometimes they get lost.

I also ran across this quotation from Shoghi Effendi posted on Facebook, which has to do with teaching the Baha'i Faith, not to do with changing my eating style. Nevertheless, with all due respect to the beloved Guardian, these words seemed most appropriate to my journey:

There is no time to lose. There is no room left for vacillation. Myriads hunger for the bread of life. . . . To try, to persevere, is to ensure ultimate and complete victory.

I hope to do a following post soon to outline why changing away from animal-sourced foods is so crucial to the survival of humankind and to the planet, and why it is so urgent.

Hurrah, thank you and all to my brave friend Rachel who is currently choosing life by doing a juice fast, coincidentally with my choice to turn towards a plant based eating style.