This will be short and sweet because it is late already…how does that happen! I’ve been keeping my list of notable incidences and checking them twice trying to determine if I’ve been naughty or nice.
Really, I do not like shopping, yet when I do MJR I am so aware of my impulses to shop. Today I was driving by a store that I Christmas shopped in and remembered a scarf that I wished I had purchased. I had a fleeting thought, “I wonder if it is still there. And perhaps it is on sale!” The next second I shook it off and drove on past.
Then last night while hanging out with friends, their daughter said she liked a certain type of black tea with rose but couldn’t find it. Being the curious person I am I began to search for it. I knew that the Indian culture often uses rose in cooking because I went to an Indian wedding celebration once and tasted some amazing dishes infused with rose. I googled and found it. End of story, sort of. Then I realized that wasn’t ok for MJR. My friend inquired why was it an infraction since I didn’t buy it. Technically, I didn’t shop because I didn’t purchase it, (per standard definition of shopping) but, what truly is shopping? For me, when I look and investigate, there is a piece of me that is starting to buy into the product and that triggers a want. Looking is feeding that desire to have and that is why I refrain from looking at ads, on or off-line. If my husband was checking out another lady, I wouldn’t like it if he told me, “I wasn’t shopping! I was just looking.”
In our culture we are so quick to look things up, even for curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat and it might tempt me to break my rest. I do, I do, I do want to try rose black tea! Or at least now I do where as before looking, I didn’t even know it existed!
I am grateful that it is only day four. It will take days to settle into my rest. The beginning is the hardest in some ways because I am on automatic pilot and I haven’t slowed down enough to catch these automatic responses. But it is also easier in the food department. Today I had fun eating up some of the dried dill cucumbers that my daughter didn’t care for. As the month goes by, and options dwindle, you will hear me whine a bit, I am sure!
I’m so grateful for the chance and reason to write. I’m so grateful for those of you who are following, encouraging me, and participating! Every year I am surprised by some of you. Last year someone slipped a tube of mascara in my pocket at church. She read I was going to run out and she had an extra sample. It was the same kind I use! Last night when my friends came over, my carton of coconut milk was sitting out; or so I thought! She had some extra left over from making a curry dish and read that I was going to run out. It was the same brand! These things are so fun for me. Case in point, sometimes we rest from, but we actually get more. In these cases, I was blessed by friends who had something to share and encouraged me in my rest.
How are you doing on your January Rest?
Uncovered 