![\"Taste31breakfasts\"](\"https:\/\/oshetablogs.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/01\/taste31breakfasts3.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWe\u2019re snowed in today, which means the kiddos are home for a snow day and we got off to a late start.\u00a0 They had oatmeal and I made myself French toast with Martha Stewart\u2019s recipe I found on Huffington Post:<\/p>\n Do you see the Barbie car in the background?\u00a0 I had to fight my daughter off of my breakfast this morning. Which goes to show maybe I should do these before the kids wake up. Like at 5am when they\u2019re still sleeping the house is still. \u00a0Maybe.\u00a0 That\u2019ll be a goal for next month.\u00a0 Right now, I\u2019m slowly easing into the discipline of eating breakfast every morning and reading my bible while doing so.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to try to exegete scriptures with the kiddos running around, cabin-fevered and cranky. I\u2019m going to take my time and not rush to a bigger goal.\u00a0 Right now, I\u2019m doing fine with waking up, planning my breakfast, listening to a sermon while I cook, and then reflecting on the sermon and passage while I eat.\u00a0 This series is for me, for accountability.\u00a0 But it\u2019s for you too, to see that with one small step, one small change, one \u201cyes\u201d you can (hopefully) taste and see that the Lord is good. <\/a><\/p>\n I like this line from the french toast recipe:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t rush things \u2014 give your bread time to soak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is my goal with \u201ctaste\u201d: don\u2019t rush things\u2014give yourself time to soak.<\/p>\n I want to savor the experience of making a delicious breakfast, pouring myself a hot cup of coffee, serving my OJ in a wine glass, and soaking in Jesus\u2019 words for me today. \u00a0Then I\u2019m going to write for five minutes on what I\u2019ve learned.\u00a0 Not too much to feel overwhelmed, but enough to whet the taste buds of my heart. \u00a0 Have you ever inhaled a meal and an hour later you wondered, \u201cwhat did I have for lunch again?\u201d\u00a0 Yeah, me too.\u00a0\u00a0 I do this all the time.\u00a0 I eat while standing or on the go.\u00a0 I graze throughout the day, never really tasting anything, just satisfying an urgent need.\u00a0 No, this year I want to taste my food and taste the Bread of Life slowly, intentionally, and completely.\u00a0 So today I was so tempted to eat instant oatmeal with my family and just check off my 2014 to-do list of eating breakfast every day, but\u00a0 this year I\u2019m tasting.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s five minute reflection will also serve as my Five Minute Friday, submission where I write for five minutes without over thinking, over-editing, and second-guessing my words.\u00a0 It\u2019s hosted by Lisa-Jo Baker and I think you should join us, it\u2019s super fun. \u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n It just so happened that the passage I read during breakfast was on Mary\u2019s Song, often called, The Magnificat.\u00a0 It\u2019s this beautiful prophetic, social-justice, freedom song for the oppressed that Pastor Brian illuminated in his sermon, \u201cLeaping Baptists and Revolutionary Jews<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 He described Mary, the mother of Jesus as a revolutionary, subversive poet, who recognizes the brokenness of the world and praises God for intervening through the child in her womb. But that\u2019s not what stood out to me.\u00a0 When he highlighted the relationship between the two women Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist and Mary, mother of Jesus,\u00a0 I wrote in my journal, \u2018Sisterhood! These woman had a special relationship, forged by shared experiences as Jewish women under oppression, pregnancies in unlikely circumstances, and mothers to boys who will become revolutionaries for God\u2019.\u00a0 They are revolutionary mothers. They are revolutionary women. And while he doesn\u2019t make this connection, I want to explore the power of life-giving friendship that empower us to sing our freedom songs.\u00a0 These songs\u00a0 fight against oppression.\u00a0 These songs bring holy discomfort to comfortable.\u00a0 These are praise choruses to God for his faithfulness when we\u2019re battling with doubt in our souls. But most and best of all, these subversive songs break down the expectations that women cannot and will not support each other. We are not a group of shrews, my friends.\u00a0 We are sisters in arms, fighting alongside<\/em><\/strong>, not against each other.<\/p>\n So it here\u2019s my FMF on the word \u201cfight.<\/p>\n GO<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Taste and See the Sisterhood of Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0More than Naomi and Ruth, I love Mary and Elizabeth.\u00a0 These two women reframe what it means to have a life-giving, honest, joy-filled relationship.\u00a0 Naomi is plagued by her bitterness and I get this sense that Ruth is patiently caring for her.\u00a0 Which is beautiful, but I sometimes wonder, \u2018where\u2019s the reciprocity between these two?\u2019\u00a0 And then we have Mary and Martha and, oh good Lord have there been so many commentaries and sermons and ideas on deciding if you\u2019re a \u201cMartha\u201d or a \u201cMary\u201d?\u00a0 And that tastes like division and separation to me.\u00a0 Not Sisterhood, not support.\u00a0 It\u2019s the perfect recipe for conflict, and I wonder, \u2018where does the Prince of Peace fit into this? \u2018 So I look at Elizabeth and Mary. And I find him there. \u00a0 I\u2019m moved by two things:<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0One:\u00a0 They were set up for some major drama.\u00a0 One older than the other, yet the older woman is carrying the lesser child.\u00a0 In most settings, on most reality shows you\u2019d hear a mischievous melody playing the background as the older talks about taking down the younger, \u201cShe\u2019ll never know what hit her!\u201d And we all rush to Twitter to talk about Elizabeth the shrew!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But they didn\u2019t they greeted one another and the baby inside Elizabeth leaped\u2014 because of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Two:\u00a0 Both women are in impossible situations.\u00a0 One pregnant in old age, the other young pregnant virgin tween.\u00a0 They could have entered the scene complaining to one another:<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Both:\u00a0 oh woe is me! God has orchestrated this pregnancy and no one believes me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mary: \u00a0Oh Elizabeth you don\u2019t understand, I\u2019m so young!<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Elizabeth:\u00a0 Girl, please! Try having a baby at this age.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mary:\u00a0 Whatever, listen.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been traveling for days and I\u2019ve been plagued by morning sickness\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Elizabeth: Oh you think that\u2019s bad\u2026this prophet is sitting on my bladder!<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mary:\u00a0 I\u2019d rather have to pee all the time than have people think I\u2019m a whore and cheated on Joseph.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Elizabeth:\u00a0 Oh you think people don\u2019t talk about me to. Well\u2026people think my husband Zacharias is crazy or at least cursed by God because he\u2019s mute.,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mary:\u00a0 Well\u2026well\u2026I had to flee all to get away from all the drama back in Nazareth.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Elizabeth:\u00a0 Well\u2026well\u2026.well\u2026. THIS PROPHET IS SITTING ON MY BLADDER!!!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0and back and forth they could have gone trying to one-up the other.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But they didn\u2019t, Elizabeth spoke words of blessings and joy over her young cousin\u2014because of the Holy Spirit.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The Holy Spirit, the comforter, the one who empowers us when we need grace and words to respond when we\u2019re caught in the crossfire of this spiritual war-torn world, spoke peace, inaugurated community, and filled Mary\u2019s heart with a song.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I want to be so filled with the Holy Spirit that I remember I belong to the women in my community, not battling with them. I want to be a member of the Sisterhood of Peace.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n STOP.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want to join this amazing group of writers who bravely write for five minutes, graciously share their words, and generously praise each other.\u00a0 Then link up today at Lisa-Jo Baker\u2019s FMF<\/a><\/p>\n If you want to find a sisterhood of peace, like the one I wrote about, consider joining Story Sessions<\/a> .\u00a0 These women have become my Story Sisters and my tribe in every sense of the word. \u00a0\u00a0 I joined last fall and it was one of the best decisions I\u2019ve ever made.\u00a0 The women in our group are beautiful writers and fierce lovers.\u00a0 This is my favorite line from the site:<\/p>\n We are your long lost sisters you never imagined you ever needed. We breathe words into each other, laugh until we cry and hold each other\u2019s hair when things get a little scary.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ok\u2026the kiddos want to play in the snow.\u00a0 Please pray for me.\u00a0 I\u2019d much rather be drinking hot cocoa!<\/p>\n Check back here tomorrow for another Breakfast with Jesus post and a new link to a breakfast recipe.<\/p>\n Love,<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n