More than any other recipe, hummus is the one for which people ask me the most. Hummus has recently become massively popular outside the Middle East, especially in the United States and Europe. I routinely see hummus packaged and ready to eat in all shapes and forms in the grocery aisles, even as little snack packs.
In this season of Lent, we’re focusing on the stewardship of pain. This descriptive phrase in itself is anathema to what society teaches us. We’re indoctrinated to avoid, silence, ignore, and medicate pain. How about walking through it? Is that too extraordinary of a thought?
What?!?!?! Have we really just persevered through three consecutive days of twenty-degree weather in Texas? We beat our own low temperatures for March according to our local weatherman. So much for my snapdragons coming into their own and the columbine buds just getting ready to bloom. I sure do hope these next few days of warmer weather, sunshine spurts, and spring rains keep these favorite early spring flowers of mine alive, much less healthy. In these conditions, I can really see the benefits of mulching thoroughly over the winter!
My healing started when I quit living in fear and started honoring the long forgotten little girl in me, the one God knew intimately and created for His purpose.
One of my sisters sent me a quote about the patience gardeners must have from a book she is reading. I chuckled in amusement because I’m definitely not patient this time of year. I can’t wait to plant all those seeds I ordered from exotic catalogues. I meticulously examine my garden each morning waiting to see which bulbs have multiplied or which perennials didn’t make it.
Peace is the harvest of an honest life. Getting there requires examining oneself while acting on each subsequent self-evaluation with enlightenment. Obviously, it takes discipline to live this way. At the time, it can be excruciatingly painful, but if I follow through the stations of vulnerability, to epiphany, to service, I become trained by the process, and enjoy the resulting privileged benefits of reaping the peaceful harvest of an honest life.
It has been cold, I mean really cold in Texas this month, down in the twenties, perfect weather for a cup of tea.
One of my favorite things we did as a family growing up in Lebanon was go on picnics. My parents weren’t into spending money on going out to eat, or the movies, but they sure could entertain with scrumptious picnic food and picturesque rest stops. Daddy loved to drive up and down the Lebanon mountain ranges discovering hidden archaeological ruins in obscure villages.
I’ve taught my grandchildren to bake before they could even reach the counter by them just pulling up a stool, donning an apron, and going at it! I do have a method to this madness though. First, we take out all the ingredients from the pantry, talk about the job of each component, measure carefully, and step by step follow the recipe. On this Valentine’s Day, the recipe is tea cakes, or old-fashioned sugar cookies passed down from my husband’s grandmother.
Look how broccoli flourishes in the dead of winter in Texas! It’s its time and season to do so. I know it sounds silly, but today, I’m grateful for broccoli!