Never Say Never

If you read my column regularly, you already know that in 2012 I turned into “one of those.” One of those healthy eaters who used to annoy the pants off me. They’re too chipper. And skinny. And fit. And sometimes, preachy. I would never become one of them.

I wondered, on occasion, what it might be like to be a big celebrity like Oprah with my own personal chef. I thought if I had someone else to do all the figuring out, the shopping, and the cooking so I only had to eat whatever was placed in front of me, I wouldn’t mind eating healthier for a while. Just to see.

But the chances of my doing all the grunt work were about as great as my chances of becoming a big celebrity. It would never happen.

I thought.

Then a nasty illness struck and I had three choices: do nothing and keep getting worse; take their scary drug cocktail for 18 months that may or may not help; or, try naturopathic care and see if my body could learn to fight back. I decided I had little to lose and everything to gain by trying the latter, even at the risk of turning into one of those annoying chipper, skinny, fit, preachers. 

After six months, I admit the jury is still out on the lung disease. I’ll see my specialist soon to find out what recent tests show. However, the treatments and the new way of eating have made an enormous difference overall. I cough less, I have more energy, and I haven’t needed a Tylenol, a Tums, or any other kind of medication for six months. The differences became especially obvious as we prepared for Christmas. Where last year I possessed little strength for anything, this year I entered into the season with joy and energy.

People say to me, “I could never do it.” They believe they could never give up meat, dairy, bread, sugar, coffee, or fill-in-the-blank even for a short time. 

Years ago, I heard a speaker who was told his options were to die or learn to push a rubber tube down his own throat every day and pull it back up again, to keep his esophagus from closing. He thought he’d never be able to do it. His doctor gave him the tube and sent him home to spend the weekend practicing. After telling the story, he showed us how quick and easy the task had become. Somehow, I never forgot his demonstration and it has served me well.

I’ve learned a lot this past year, but the most significant is this: NEVER SAY NEVER.

So, after all the holiday indulging, did you by any chance resolve to improve your eating habits in 2013? Let me be the first to cheer you on! To start, here’s a vegan chili recipe chock-full of nutrition and tasty comfort on a January night.

Vegetarian Chili

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 bell peppers, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 8-10 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• pinch cayenne
• 1 can each: black beans, white kidney beans, red kidney beans (drained & rinsed)
• 1 lg. can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 lg. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder 
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp Chia seeds

Directions: In a large pot, saute garlic, peppers, onion, carrots, mushrooms and celery until everything is soft, approximately 5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and cook for about 30-40 minutes on low to medium heat.  Add water if you like a soupier chili. Note: the optional chia seeds are one of those super foods that increase the nutritional value. They thicken up the chili, too.

Why I never turn down free squash...

A friend gave me a couple of squash that turned out to be a hybrid – they planted spaghetti squash that cross-pollinated with pumpkins. The result was a round, smooth, orangey-yellow squash with rock-hard shells.

Doesn’t matter. Once cooked, it seems squashes are pretty much interchangeable. I cut them in half, scooped out the seeds, put them in a roasting pan with a little water in the bottom and baked them in a 400 degree oven for an hour. After scooping out the insides, my food processor did a lovely job of turning it into about four cups of puree. A blender will work, too, although not as quickly. You can freeze it and use it in soups or baking... or for the delicious smoothie shown here.

Got this from the Forks Over Knives cookbook. I think it’s WAY more delicious than eggnog, with none of the fat, none of the sugar, and oodles more nutrients! (If you like rum in your eggnog, you might want to try rum extract in place of the vanilla.)

 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

For each serving:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

½ cup pumpkin puree

½ ice cubes

4 dates, pitted and chopped (I used coconut-covered date rolls which are already soft)

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth and creamy.

A Todd Family Christmas

I'm a not-very-good photographer with a not-very-good camera. Why bother when you've got a daughter-in-law who's a great photographer with a great camera? (And who lets me snag her pictures! Thanks, Dara.)

Here's me snuggling Rorin.

Keegan & Allistar got sleds from Aunty Mindy & Uncle Kevin. Of course we had to go sledding!  The "Dump Hill" was nostalgic for Nate and Mindy.

Ice candles turned out pretty good for our first try. Can you make these where YOU live?

Here's the whole gang! First time together for Christmas since 2008... and we have two new little people since then!

And the whole gang squished into the staircase. Not sure whether Keegan is sneezing or sleeping.

The reason for it all: Happy Birthday, Jesus.

Hubby gave me a juice extractor! YAY! I can retire the borrowed 1980 version.

Rorin's gift from us.

We are feeling so blessed to have had a lot of family time this Christmas season and have much to be grateful for. I wish you and yours the Lord's richest blessings in 2013.

A Thrill of Hope in a Hurting World

Raise your hand if you can name the first song ever sent over the air via radio waves.

Here’s a hint: it happened Christmas Eve 1906. Reginald Fessenden picked up his violin and played its melody after reading the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke. Radio operators aboard ships must have been shocked, for neither the human voice nor music had ever been transmitted this way.

Need another clue? The song’s lyrics were originally written in 1847 by a French poet named Placide Cappeau (who, incidentally, had his right hand amputated following a shooting accident at the age of eight).

Adolphe Charles Adams composed the melody. To Adams, a man of Jewish descent, the poem represented a day he didn’t celebrate and a man he did not view as the son of God. But he wrote the music anyway, at his friend’s request, and at first the song was embraced by the Catholic church.

But then the original poet, Cappeau, left the church to join the Socialist movement and the church learned the composer was a Jew. They banned the song, declaring it unfit.

About ten years later, American abolitionist John Sullivan Dwight was so moved by the words of the third verse, he translated the entire song into English and published it in his magazine. If you know your Civil War history, you can see why it quickly caught on in the northern United States during that time:

“Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.”

And if you hadn’t already guessed, now you know. “O Holy Night,” originally called “Cantique de Noel,” has remained one of the most loved and most recorded Christmas carols.

Have you seen the new Lincoln movie yet? Abraham Lincoln remains a hero to many for taking the lead in abolishing slavery in America, but I can’t help thinking Lincoln would weep if he knew it has not been abolished at all. Oppression has not ceased. According to numerous reports, there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history. Human trafficking runs rampant. 

This is probably not what you wanted to read in my Christmas column. The good news is, we can make a difference and we don’t have to fight this battle alone. Numerous organizations work hard to expose and abolish human trafficking. By buying fair trade, learning more about modern slavery, spreading the word, and joining a movement such as Free the Slaves, International Justice Mission, or ServantsAnonymous (among others), you as an individual can help.

Isaiah 58, verse 6 says this: “I’ll tell you what it really means to worship the Lord. Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly. Free those who are abused!”

DefendDignity leads a campaign to end modern day sex slavery and defend the dignity of every woman right here in Canada. I’m happy to say my church and its denomination (the Christian and Missionary Alliance) are partners of Defend Dignity. Watch for details of an important event coming to Portage at the end of January.

And finally, an invitation. I hope you attend your church’s Christmas services. But if you do not have a church home, please join me and my family at mine, PortageAlliance Church, on Christmas Eve at 7:00 pm. But come early – the place packs out! Spend an hour singing carols by candlelight. You may return home with renewed perspective on the hope that is ours because of Christmas. May it truly be for you, a Holy Night.

Our Finest Gifts We Bring

You may not have heard of Katherine Kennicott Davies, but she wrote what I used to consider the dumbest Christmas carol of all time. “The Little Drummer Boy” (originally titled “The Carol of the Drum”), which the American woman wrote in 1941, became famous when recorded by the Trapp Family Singers of Sound of Music fame.

My opinion of this song was formed between the ages of 13 and 18, when I still knew everything. I knew the Bible records no drummer boy at the Bethlehem stable, not in any of the four gospels. That whole “ox and lamb kept time” thing? Please. And a newborn baby smiling at him? Probably just gas. Never mind that a newborn can’t focus his eyes that well. And whoever heard of lulling a baby to sleep by beating on a drum anyway? As a young mother, I’d have appreciated the gift about as much as I’d appreciate bedbugs. 

Furthermore, I always thought the song annoying to sing, what with the obnoxious rumpa pum pums interrupting its storyline.

That is what I used to think.

I finally got it one Christmas in my late thirties when, as usual, I was involved with the annual Christmas banquet at Portage Alliance Church. The drama team was staging a short play I had written and the music team would perform several songs, including The Little Drummer Boy. 

Our drummer that year, long past being a boy, would play a solo part. As I watched him beating his heart into the piece, I finally clued in to what the song was all about. The drummer boy had nothing else to give.

Neither did I. No gold. Certainly no frankincense or myrrh, even if I knew what those were. I couldn’t play a drum, either.

But I could write a play.

All of a sudden, the lyrics changed a bit for me. “I write my plays for him, pa rum pum pum pum. I write my best for him, pa rum pum pum pum…”  

And finally, the clincher: “Then he smiled at me.” Not as an infant from a manger bed, but as my risen Lord. Smiling. At me and my little play.

The song has been one of my favorites ever since.

Last year, Winnipeg musician Sean Quigley won praise for his video, posted to YouTube, featuring a fantastic rendition of The Little Drummer Boy. Quigley’s video, shot at familiar Winnipeg locations, took full advantage of heavy snow. I find it mind-boggling that Quigley played all the instruments, sang the vocals, recorded everything and shot, directed and edited the video himself.

At only 16, Sean Quigley grasped what I had missed.

“Drummer Boy speaks to me so much,” he told media. “The whole song is a story. It’s about this boy who gets word of Jesus being born and he goes to see him and he doesn’t have anything to give him; he’s like ‘I don’t have money, I don’t have gifts to give you. But I can play my drum and that’s more than enough’.”

If you haven’t seen Quigley’s video, I encourage you to watch it soon, here. Watch the joy on his face. 

What is your drum? How will you make a gift of it this Christmas?