Our Just Eating? workshop at church is winding down. We have two more weeks to go. Last week’s theme was “Food & the Environment” and I have to say it was hard for me to “go there.” I used to work for Greenpeace back in my early 20s, I belong to the Sierra Club, and give to a variety of environmental groups. I used to be a hardcore recycler (not so much as there is no recycling in the fabulous city of Huntington). I believe in reduce, reuse, recycle. I used to buy most of my clothes at thrift stores and consignment shops. I admit to being up and down in my “eco-consciousness” over the past 20 years but it’s always something I think about, even if I don’t always choose the most green choice.

So why was last week so hard for me. Where was the resistance coming from? I think its two-pronged. First, since we moved I have not been the most eco-conscious. In setting up our household I took the easy way out and bought cheap furniture from big box stores, I’ve bought more clothes at the mall than at the thrift stores and consignment shops for the first time in my life, I don’t recycle (except for paper). I feel like the Huntington culture has sucked all of my greenness out of me. Blah.

Second, looking at the problems on a large scale just freaks my out and makes me shut down. I just see problems and problems and problems and don’t feel like little ol’ me can fix any of them.

Talking through the second issue at our meeting I realized I need to chill. I can’t fix the world. I CAN make better choices, I CAN buy/grow organic produce – which means one more family off the corporate food bandwagon.  As part of a community garden I CAN even help feed my greater community.

This is where things get cool. Our little Just Eating? group is figuring out ways to grow and share organic produce. We discussed going in together to buy a cow/pig/sheep/goat from a local organic farm. We could get organic milk/cheese/meat that would be distributed to the members of our congregation.

We also have discussed using an empty lot to create an organic community garden that would provide food for the congregation, with a share going to a non-profit – the mission, a food pantry, or a shelter that houses women who are escaping domestic violence.

And we’ve talked about all the gardeners/wannabe gardeners getting together to pool our resources and share our bounty with our congregation. We can do this so simply – just by designating a space where we can bring in our surplus produce (because you know there’s always something that just produces like crazy) and allowing anyone from the congregation to pick up what they need.

I can’t fix the world, but I can figure out ways to make healthy, organic produce available for the people I love and my local community. And that’s what I’m going to do.

A healthier me, a healthier community, a healthier planet. Yeah, that sounds good.

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I'm sitting on the ground, third from the left - note the huge glasses.

Today’s Faith in Action step for “Just Eating?” is to journal about an experience that shaped my body image for better or for worse.

Soooo….without further ado here are two separate but related body issues I had growing up – a for worse and then a for better.

Living in Louisiana, I was a sickly, super-skinny child. I have asthma and had round after round of bronchitis and pneumonia and many, many (sometimes weekly) trips to the ER. My body was my enemy and so was just about everything in my world because of severe respiratory allergies. I couldn’t even participate in PE most of the time.

I had the skinniest legs in the entire world – my mother actually told me I had “chicken legs.” This was the worst thing she could have said to my sensitive, shy self. I started refusing to wear shorts or skirts. I hid my legs at all costs for years.

Then we moved to Eastern Washington when I was twelve and most of my respiratory problems cleared up, the climate was a Godsend for me and my lungs. During eighth grade my best friends (twins) asked me to join them on the track team. Several of our mutual friends were joining so I joined just for solidarity’s sake. I did discus and shot put (both truly laughable as I was still only about 85 lbs. soaking wet), the long jump and triple jump, tried hurdles, and discovered I was REALLY good at the distance events. I rocked the 800 meters and mile.

This was monumental in my life. My life up until then had been very interior, I read a lot and was known for being “smart” (both good and bad connotations). To be able to stretch and push my body to move faster and faster was an amazing revelation. To watch as I got stronger and stronger and faster and faster was so exciting. And to be known as an athlete was just plain crazy to me.

But, I had to wear shorts.

Yeah, major issue for me. Shorts were part of the uniform and even though I could wear sweats in practice I HAD to wear shorts at meets. So, I swallowed hard and put those teeny tiny shorts, size XXS. I remember my mother telling me (much later) that she realized I was serious about that whole track thing when she first saw me at a meet in those shorts.

I went on to run track and cross-country all four years in high school and went to State every year. Being an athlete was a huge part of my identity in high school. I loved to lift weights, to practice with the sprinters and then go for a long run, to track my progress on different courses. My best time for 3.1 miles was 20:53.

And I’ve worn short skirts ever since.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for giving me opportunity

to push my body to its limit and the confidence to love

my body in all its imperfect perfection,

please give me the strength and perseverance as I work

to make my body healthier and stronger.

Amen.

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