Wednesday, February 7, 2007

meat...

i love meat. it makes me happy. the smell of meat over a flame just tickles my fancy and actually cooking meat over a flame...well, it makes me feel manly. i feel like a caveman, standing over a fire i created while cooking the game i caught with my spear just after inventing the wheel...argh argh argh (that was a manly grunt, ala Tim Allen).

-sidenote-
ok, so i don't kill anything. i go to the grocery store and buy a steak, likely from a corn-fed cow raised specifically to be killed. and i didn't invent the wheel. i can barely change a tire when it blows. actually, i didn't even start the fire (insert Billy Joel reference here), i just lit up a gas grill. also, i am slightly less hairy than a caveman. in fact, i have no leg hair at all. despite all this, just let me have my moment.
-end sidenote-

as i was saying, i just really like meat. i can't think of a time when i purposely excluded meat from my meal. chicken, steak, famous dave's beef brisket, ham, etc, etc. it is a staple for my diet and has been for as long as I can remember.

all that being said, i decided to try something that i realize is not original, nor do i believe it to elevate me to the upper echelon (don’t be impressed, i had to spell check that word) of spirituality. i have decided to only eat meat on tuesdays and thursdays. now, call me a wimp if you will, but without the use of some sort of meat patch or gum (both great ideas in my book) i don't think i could quit cold turkey (mmm...turkey). thus, a compromise. now, i may find it easier than expected and carve out (get it? carve out....) the tuesday/ thursday deal, but i want to make it a challenge i can face for now.
the catalyst behind this is that i have realized i lack discipline. there are a lot of things (learning to play guitar, writing poetry and music, honing my photography skills, reading books, exercising, loosing weight, getting my hair cut) that i want to do, and just don't. maybe i'm too tired from work. maybe i am lazy. whatever the reason, i have avoided some of these things and i want to quit neglecting them. part of the problem is that i have never had to be disciplined. i was the last child, so my parents were soft on me a bit as far as chores and such. (ask my siblings...they will go on for hours about it:) i never cared what girls thought about my appearance, and i wasn't involved in sports, so i had no external motivations to keep me in shape. spiritually, i have always been viewed as a leader, so i have bought into the lie that i am doing enough (that was painful to type, but true). so, this whole meat thing is one step towards learning the art of self-discipline.

if you would be so kind, i ask you to help me with this endeavor in a few ways.
1.) keep me accountable on this. slap the bologna out of my hand if you see it on a day that doesn't start with T.
2.) join with me in this. find something to sacrifice and fast from. be reminded during your time of sacrifice that what you are doing will be a glory to God if you allow it to be. don't just let the sacrifice stand alone, but make a concentrated effort to think about God during this time and to draw closer to Him throughout this experience.
3.) pray for me, because, as i mentioned, i really, really like meat.

2 comments:

Naomi said...

You youngest children are a pain. We oldest children love you and learn from you anyway. Haha.

Good thing you eat meat on Tuesdays, otherwise, you'd be eating a lot of fruit salad.

Courtney Strahan said...

steve,

i appreciate your honesty and vulnerability. it encourages me to do the same during those moments that i second guess myself.

if you ever want to go out and take some photos, let me know. i am always looking for someone to go with. if i have to go alone, i usually don't go. i guess i am a bit lazy myself when it comes to my photography, too.

and, naomi is right...us older siblings learn so much from you younger siblings. as much as i can go on about my brother being a pain, i could tell you just as much about what i learn from him. if anything, you're all more of a blessing than a pain.

anyway...great post.
grace and peace,
courtney.