Eating Like My Children

All Compassion Advocates received this book by Chris Seay.  It is divided into 40 readings, so it lends itself to a Lenten reading.  I began reading last Wednesday, so I'm four days late starting on the following plan.

The idea is to eat as the poor eat, the children we sponsor.  I am always frustrated by how much we have in this country.  I rarely watch TV, only for sporting events, but when I see the commercials for the incredibly unhealthy and overindulgent food, it makes me ill.  Not ill because if I actually ate that food, I would be ill (because I would), but ill because we have so much, and so many have so little.

For me to participate in this eating plan is very important, a way for me to try to avoid the ridiculous amounts of unhealthy food that we consume in this country every day.  So tomorrow I begin eating beans, corn, potatoes (rice is an option, but I really dislike it), soup, and fruit.  Most of my children eat bananas, but I'm allergic to them, so I have to adjust that a bit.  I am already happy about this for one reason--I was amazed at how low my grocery bill was today.  It was about half of what it usually is for a week, and I don't even buy the prepackaged, calorie and fat laden food that most people buy.  I'm excited to see where this leads me spiritually and physically.

However, I'm feeling a bit sad.  I haven't received a letter for more than two weeks, and with 12 children, I sort of thought I would have had another by now.

I feel as if I'm failing as an Advocate.  A friend sponsored a child last spring after listening to me talk about my children, and that's what made me think about becoming an Advocate.  I've only been one for about 6 months, but I have not been able to get any new sponsors.  I have raised money for Bite Back, but that's it.

My church won't let me present Compassion on Compassion Sunday, although I might be permitted to have a sponsor table, but I'm still waiting to find out.  I'm going to try to present to Sunday School classes, but I feel pretty discouraged about even trying.

I teach preschool Sunday School every few months.  Today was my last day for this month (duh).  The last Sunday of the month is always movie day.  First, my helper met me at the room and said he couldn't help because he wanted to go to the service.  Then I burned the popcorn in the dilapidated microwave.  The children weren't very interested in the movie and kept wanting to play with the toys instead.  The people who came in to teach the 11:00 Sunday School complained about my popcorn fiasco and said, "All you had to do was push the popcorn button on the microwave."  Well, that's what I did!  And look what happened.

So I feel like a failure today, but at least I can feel as if I'm identifying with my Compassion children by eating like them, and I can feel an even deeper connection to them.