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Humble Pie Organic foods are all the rage these days, much the way Low Carb was a few years back and Low Fat before that. I admit to climbing on the Organic Train myself and seeing how long I could ride. I found that for myself organics became a matter of vanity and pride. A peer asked me what I meant by that and in this article I've tried to address that question as best I can. Let me start by saying that organic foods are better quality. I've purchased them; I've eaten them; I've even tried to grow them and I can say with complete and total honesty that they taste better. Plus they have no man made pesticides or added growth hormones which I'm sure is better for our bodies and our health. The main drawback to organics is that they cost more. When I switched to organic food I found that my grocery bill literally doubled. If I didn't shop and plan with extreme care then my bill would triple before I could even blink. We've always been on a budget, sometimes tighter than othertimes. The extra expense of organics pinched us in a distinctly uncomfortable way. Still, the media, fans and friends told me it was worth it, so I convinced myself and my family to give up on "luxuries" like savings in order to foot the extra expense. After a while I took pride in choosing organics. I patted myself on the back. I said to myself "Ah, what a good mother I am giving my children the very best." I looked at peers on the Internet and said to myself "Now I can be a member of their elite club because I am buying organics and using only wholesome natural sweeteners." A lot of my Email tells me how foolish I am for not living a 100% organic, locally grown, sugar-free, meat-free, dairy-free, wheat-free, raw-food existence. When I ate and bragged about eating organic food I comforted myself in the hope that I would finally put all of those naysayers to rest. Maybe I was still eating animal products, but Hey Y'all, they're produced by a local family who gives the chickens free range of the whole barnyard, lets the dairy cows romp in the meadow with their kids and names each one personally. I can rest my heart in the knowledge that Bessie has a fulfilling life while providing milk for my table. For me (not everyone, just me personally) this became a matter of pride, vanity and trusting in myself to protect myself from pesticides and naysayers instead of trusting Christ. I thought to myself "At last, I'm on a higher level. All of this stinky poverty has been washed away from body and my life by choosing organics over standard plebeian swill." I imagined that my body was "detoxifying" from all of the pesticides I've consumed over the years and fancied myself more "enlightened".
About that time we started coming up on a lot of construction bills due to some much needed repairs and a new addition to the house. Now some would argue that the housing costs were more of a vanity than organic food, but they don't understand the exact state of our tiny broken down shack before the construction. I have been ashamed of the disrepair our house has been in and because of it I have avoided posting pictures of it on-line. Several years ago we had a lot of bills to pay off and it took us about 5 years to do it all. Over that time there simply wasn't any money for repairs. We did what we could with hammer and nail but to tell the truth both Fred and I knew we needed to improve our standard of living. We didn't exactly have dirt floors we could see the dirt through holes in the floor. Yes we had a roof over our heads, but almost half of it leaked and part of it had fallen in while the rest of it was on it's way to the same condition. Our house was a southern shack, with all of the poverty and disrepair that such a name implies. Improving our home was not a vanity, it was a matter of safety and necessity. Quite simply we needed adequate housing more than we needed organic food.
All of this got me thinking about my role in the family. As a Christian homemaker I have duty to make do the best I can with the resources my husband provides. We aren't rich and there are lots of things we need more than we need the satisfaction of eating the "perfect diet". Plain and simple, when I was buying organics I was spending too much for food. I can buy a gallon of organic milk for $7 or I can mix up a gallon of conventional reconstituted nonfat dry milk for $2.40. That's $4.60 difference. If I think in terms of 3 gallons a week, 52 weeks a year, then by choosing to buy organic milk only I would be spending an extra $717.16 extra per year, just on milk alone. Multiply this by all of the organic items that were costing me more, and Jimminey Cricket!, it adds up to Thousands of Dollars. I may be alone in this, but our family can not afford to spend thousands of dollars extra on food. We don't have thousands of dollars extra for one, and for two, the extra money we do have needs to go into savings or towards other needs like shoes, boy underwear, prescriptions and the dentist. I would rather the kids have shoes and underwear that fit than be able to eat 3 organic meals a day. For some people it may not be a question of either-or, but for us it is. My obligation is to use the money I do have as wisely as possible and the Lord has made it clear to me that for me (not anyone else, just me) spending extra on organics is not a smart use of my resources. If I don't manage my money wisely then I am not doing my job.
To me this means that I have a duty to spend in a way that is reliable and trustworthy, not over spending and not making the family go without because I have mismanaged the money entrusted in my care. Another thing is that I am a little bit resentful that I would have to work so hard and pay so much for good quality food. I deserve good quality food no matter what my circumstances. We all do. Be that as it may, we live in a capitalistic society and those who can afford to buy the best are the ones who get it. I'm not a member of the elite who can afford to buy the best. So I don't get the best. It's not pretty. Some would say it's not fair. But that's the way it is. Instead of getting the best, I get the best I can afford. And like poor people have done for thousands of years, I trust the Lord to provide for me. I don't have to be able to be afford the best because I have an ace up my sleeve. I have an advantage. That advantage is a loving savior who will work on my behalf to take care of my family and I, no matter what we can afford. His protection is not incumbent upon my finances or the food filling up my shopping cart. As the bible points out, He takes care of the ravens and the sparrows and He loves us, His children, even more than that, so we can trust Him to provide for us, beyond our understanding.
I have 2 requirements put upon me. I have to do the best I can with what I am provided and I have to exercise faith that God will care for us, for our health, for our physical needs, regardless of what we can afford. Most of us know He is caring for our spiritual needs, but He isn't just a spiritual God. He sent Christ to Earth in the flesh so we would know that a part of God endured all of the physical temptations and limitations that the rest of us face every day. I don't have to worry endlessly over the quality of the food I buy because God has already got that covered. All I have to do is bow my head and accept His Grace.
This may seem ridiculous to some folks but I'm not going to worry over that. The wisdom of the world is that organics are the only way to go if we want to be strong healthy and live long upon the earth.
Plenty of people have told me that the reason I have PCOS, the reason my boys have ADHD and Asperger's syndrome, the reason Fred has diabetes is because I have failed in providing well for my family. I know that diet affects our health, and as I have learned more about it I have done better by my family. Still, I'm not convinced that every health problem we have is my fault for baking too many cookies or using powdered milk instead of fresh organic milk. Instead of placing blame I'm trusting God to provide for our family and to work His healing strength within us. Within my limitations I do my best to provide wholesome, healthy meals and the rest I trust to God. The mistakes I make and the products outside of my budget are all covered by His Grace which I believe has more power than organics ever will to heal our bodies and give us health and long life. I rely on His power instead of my limited mortality and in that way provide better for my family than any manmade diet will ever be able to do.
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