You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.”
-Psalm 128:1-2
Since getting married this past June, I have made many mistakes, but the biggest mistake that I made was not recognizing or owning that my responsibilities changed with getting married. In college I was fairly independent and very idealistic. Changing the world on a grand scale was my primary objective, and I was in every way involved with leadership roles, organizations and people that helped me to fulfill my dreams. But when I took vows 9 months ago I found that instead of changing the world every day, I was washing dishes. Instead of solving problems of humanity I was solving problems of our food going bad.In short, I felt useless, unmotivated and unappreciated. In turning to the Lord, though, I have I have learned that godliness in my life is not something that a) comes overnight and b) looks the same in everyone's life. My primary role in life changed with my name. I was no longer single; therefore I could not live as though I was. I was not Amy Phillips: Changer of World but Amy Crouch: Wife. In my mind these were mutually exclusive. I could choose one or the other. As much as this thought made me grumble, it also made me seek the Lord. I spend countless hours poring over scripture and books, seeking out the meaning of godliness in the life of a wife and woman. I pursued thoughts on how to be godly in keeping the house clean, working a job, being intimate with Matt, and simply living out the daily tasks of life, which can indeed bring change into the world. Because much of our life revolves around food, one of the first areas that I focused on was how we ate and shopped.
"What's your guess, Amy?"
My mother's voice asked me the most serious of grocery shopping questions. She had already written down the guesses of my older brother, and my younger would have his chance next. My sister would have to wait several years before her number skills would be advanced enough to know what guessing was. This game was a ritual for us at the end of every monthly trip to the air force grocery store. We each had a shot to tell my mother how much we thought our grocery bill was, and my mother would end it with her own guess. As children, two or three hundred dollars was an outrageous number, so my mother easily won each game. But the lesson that I learned allowed me to walk away with a prize of my own: an understanding of the cost of food. While spending two hundred dollars a month now seems average, or even below average, I have come to find myself asking different questions. What should I think about as I shop for groceries? Is cost the biggest factor, or is there more?
The first thing that I looked towards was the Bible. Scripture is used for teaching and instructing, even in the smallest of areas. From the beginning of the Bible I was able to see that God did two things when he created man: He blessed them and he commanded them. His command was "Be abundantly fruitful, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it." And in that moment, there was intimacy between mankind, his creation, and himself. When mankind sinned, however, that intimacy was severed, and is only restored through Jesus. While those who follow Jesus await the full reconciliation brought by the New Kingdom, we can continue to live out this command, reflecting Jesus as Creator and bringing us closer to Him. Even in our brokenness, God's original plan never ceased. We show who Jesus is through our calling as image-bearers of God.
1) God has commanded me to take care of his earth, which includes not only the physical earth, but also all creatures living in it. I, being made in His image, am a mini-creator. I create not only if I sit at a blank canvas and paint, but also when I make decisions about the food that I make or the garden that I plant. In everything I do God asks me to be creative--glorifying Him because of the resources and gifts that He has given me. I must proclaim the name of Jesus in all decisions and ventures that I make.
2) God calls me to teach. Eventually this will mean to teach our children, but Matt and I do not have children so this time that I have is spent in preparation for that. I want our lives to be pursuing godliness before we have children, so that those around us know that we long to honor Jesus in everything, and when our children are born we will be able to instill this in them. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." I long for our children to honor Jesus in all ways as well, and to be able to say that their mother was godly in all things, including shopping.
3) God calls me to live in community. This means thinking “locally” as opposed to “globally”. It is our culture’s inclination to think of how we can save the world, the environment, and everything on this planet. There is no feasible way that I can be passionate about every cause, piece of land or person on this world. This does not require apathy for any cause outside of our neighborhoods and cities, but I believe that my primary responsibility is local. When I participate in local, holistic justice, I encounter the intimacy that the Lord created me for. I feel that by building relationships with the people that I purchase food from, and by purchasing from organizations that help to build into my city, I too help to build up my city. I can look to our city and the surrounding areas as our garden--planning, caring for and developing it into a working, living, breathing place. Small steps are needed to bring about big change.
What small steps can be taken then? If we are called to godly living, and if we are called to love God and our neighbors, how are we to do this in one of the biggest areas of our life: food? According to the Economic Research Service, the average American spends more than 30% of their monthly income on food. I long for my children to see Matt and I living out godly lives in the decisions that we make. What then did I decide was godly grocery shopping for my family? The following are ten things that I feel are important for Matt and I to keep in mind as we begin a striving for godly grocery shopping, and my prayer is that you will be encouraged and challenged by these:
"What's your guess, Amy?"
My mother's voice asked me the most serious of grocery shopping questions. She had already written down the guesses of my older brother, and my younger would have his chance next. My sister would have to wait several years before her number skills would be advanced enough to know what guessing was. This game was a ritual for us at the end of every monthly trip to the air force grocery store. We each had a shot to tell my mother how much we thought our grocery bill was, and my mother would end it with her own guess. As children, two or three hundred dollars was an outrageous number, so my mother easily won each game. But the lesson that I learned allowed me to walk away with a prize of my own: an understanding of the cost of food. While spending two hundred dollars a month now seems average, or even below average, I have come to find myself asking different questions. What should I think about as I shop for groceries? Is cost the biggest factor, or is there more?
The first thing that I looked towards was the Bible. Scripture is used for teaching and instructing, even in the smallest of areas. From the beginning of the Bible I was able to see that God did two things when he created man: He blessed them and he commanded them. His command was "Be abundantly fruitful, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it." And in that moment, there was intimacy between mankind, his creation, and himself. When mankind sinned, however, that intimacy was severed, and is only restored through Jesus. While those who follow Jesus await the full reconciliation brought by the New Kingdom, we can continue to live out this command, reflecting Jesus as Creator and bringing us closer to Him. Even in our brokenness, God's original plan never ceased. We show who Jesus is through our calling as image-bearers of God.
1) God has commanded me to take care of his earth, which includes not only the physical earth, but also all creatures living in it. I, being made in His image, am a mini-creator. I create not only if I sit at a blank canvas and paint, but also when I make decisions about the food that I make or the garden that I plant. In everything I do God asks me to be creative--glorifying Him because of the resources and gifts that He has given me. I must proclaim the name of Jesus in all decisions and ventures that I make.
2) God calls me to teach. Eventually this will mean to teach our children, but Matt and I do not have children so this time that I have is spent in preparation for that. I want our lives to be pursuing godliness before we have children, so that those around us know that we long to honor Jesus in everything, and when our children are born we will be able to instill this in them. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." I long for our children to honor Jesus in all ways as well, and to be able to say that their mother was godly in all things, including shopping.
3) God calls me to live in community. This means thinking “locally” as opposed to “globally”. It is our culture’s inclination to think of how we can save the world, the environment, and everything on this planet. There is no feasible way that I can be passionate about every cause, piece of land or person on this world. This does not require apathy for any cause outside of our neighborhoods and cities, but I believe that my primary responsibility is local. When I participate in local, holistic justice, I encounter the intimacy that the Lord created me for. I feel that by building relationships with the people that I purchase food from, and by purchasing from organizations that help to build into my city, I too help to build up my city. I can look to our city and the surrounding areas as our garden--planning, caring for and developing it into a working, living, breathing place. Small steps are needed to bring about big change.
What small steps can be taken then? If we are called to godly living, and if we are called to love God and our neighbors, how are we to do this in one of the biggest areas of our life: food? According to the Economic Research Service, the average American spends more than 30% of their monthly income on food. I long for my children to see Matt and I living out godly lives in the decisions that we make. What then did I decide was godly grocery shopping for my family? The following are ten things that I feel are important for Matt and I to keep in mind as we begin a striving for godly grocery shopping, and my prayer is that you will be encouraged and challenged by these:
- Start Small: It is easy to get overwhelmed adopting lifestyle changes. I cannot change the world, but I can work to change our family. Therefore it is important to make sure that changes are brought about in ways that are not stressful, easing into new ideas and routines rather than rushing to change an entire system in one day.
- Don’t buy what you don’t need: This one has become a staple for Matt and me. We make a budget and stick to it. We make a list and stick to that as well. In our world of advertising it is so easy to be distracted by sales, new products, and what society tells us we deserve. Obviously different households have different needs, so I won’t at all tell you what to buy, but before you go shopping, think about what foods you will need to be healthy and wise, and get those, and only those. For example, we only buy snacks if we have excess money left over at the end of the trip. Snacks have become, then, a rare treat that we enjoy so much more than if we had access to them all the time.
- Do what you can yourself: Obviously, living in a city makes this difficult, but I have recently seen the benefits, not only monetary but also health-wise, of taking the extra time to make things myself rather than buying them packaged. This could be as simple as baking bread and buying rolled oats instead of boxed oatmeal, or as complicated as growing your own vegetables and herbs outside in the summer. This is done most easily when you create menus ahead of time and are aware of how much time is needed for the meals you want to make.
- Think of the community: Sharing meals and products amongst community members is a tradition that seems to be fading. Up until recently I was unaware of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups that bring a connection between local farmers and those in the cities. What a beautiful thing it is to know that you can support the produce and growth of the crops of farmers living nearby. In this knowledge you can also be fully aware of where your food is coming from. You don’t have to worry about getting “fresh” produce from across the country, and the farmers that you support will be able to thrive and give back to you as well.
- Buy Locally: This is an extension of the last point. Not only is local food fresher and easily available, it is often cheaper as well. You will know that your money is going directly to the farmers and to their families and businesses. I know that obtaining all of your food at the farmers’ market or local CSA groups is a very difficult task, but look around at other places that also sell local food. Find out where Whole Foods and Harris Teeter buy their eggs, milk, meat and produce and support local agriculture in that way.
- Share the load: One of the worst things about buying fresh products is the waste that can come along with it. Matt and I only cook for two people, and so it is wonderful to have friends that we can share meals with on occasion. It is a system that requires no exchange of money, only the understanding that we will extend the service back to them when we can. What an amazing thing that could happen if communities would begin to support those around them who perhaps cannot afford the kinds of good foods that we are able to eat. When we share the load, the burden becomes lighter on each of us!
- Shop/Cook seasonally: This has been one of the hardest, and also one of the most exciting parts of our cooking journey! We have tried to make it a point to cook foods that are in season at the farms around us, and in this we maximize the possibilities of being able to shop locally. One of the best books that I have found on this subject has been Simply in Season, a Mennonite cookbook that provides good, healthy, tasteful recipes for each growing season. Also available at the State Farmers’ Market is a list of what foods are in season during each month in North Carolina.
- Buy in Bulk/Stock up: Utilize your freezer and pantry space to the max. It is more often than not cheaper to buy things in bulk rather than small quantities. Plan ahead and use what you have. Learn to can during the summer and stock up for the wintertime. Buy meat products in bulk and freeze them until you need them.
- Involve your family: Changing and planning meals is an exciting thing that kids can be excited about and interested in. Let your family be a part of the planning and shopping process so that they, too, will feel involved and likely to enjoy the eating process even more!
- Always go back to scripture: All of these things are useless unless we are seeking to honor God with our resources. Following any sort of guideline or rule is meaningless if we are not being careful of whether or not it is a godly thing to do. We have had to make sacrifices both ways when we shop. We simply cannot afford to shop entirely locally at this point, and to do so would just be an attempt to prove a point. But we can be godly in the decisions that we make and seek to honor Jesus in all that we buy and use.
