What kind of person reads a book about a pandemic in the middle of a pandemic? Me… There was definitely something comforting about picking up this book about the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic during our current time, and while I’m not sure that I would have been able to read this in the beginning of March of this year, (2020), I thought it gave a great perspective to our current time.
Bright as Heaven opens as the fictional Bright family leave their family farm to move to Philadelphia for Mr Bright to take over his uncle’s mortuary business. They are mourning the loss of Henry, the youngest child who didn’t even live to see his first birthday. The story is told through alternating points of view of each of the women in the family; there is Pauline- Mamma, Evie the eldest, Maggie the middle child, and Willa the youngest. They each come to Philadelphia fighting their own inner battles but soon enough a whole new battle comes crashing into their lives.
They are just beginning to settle into life in the big, busy city when seemingly out of nowhere the Spanish Flu springs up, and instantly their residence which is also the mortuary business is overrun with the dead. We think of the years of 1918 and 1919 and we think of World War One, totally forgetting about this global crisis that occurred in the midst of the war. As the flu reaches its deadly peak, Mamma and Maggie are out tending to the ill when Maggie hears a baby crying. She follows the crying and comes to a dilapidated house. Inside she finds his mother is dead as she picks up the baby, Maggie also notices a girl, his sister, nearly motionless on a couch. Before Maggie’s eyes the sister dies, or at least Maggie thinks that she does… This image will haunt Maggie continuously for years to come in ways she couldn’t imagine.
Not only does Susan Meissener weave together a gripping story with; as I like to say, no boring parts, she also sheds light on an often forgotten chapter of history. The Spanish Flu of 1918 was a global event that took more lives than World War One did. Imagine, not just a world war, but in addition a flu that couldn’t be cured or treated effectively raging at the same time. This book really gave me perspective on our current times. This is not the first time our world has seen tragedy and chaos, nor will it be the last. We must remember that we are not defined by the times that we live in, but rather how we react to our current circumstances. Since the world has been in existence there have been cataclysmic events, but the world has kept on turning. I would like to challenge you to pick up this book and after you finish, ask yourself- do we really have it as badly as today as we think we do? Will we rise to the challenge of our times as the Bright Family does?
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
I hear the voices, they are up to their usual tricks saying things like, “This won’t work, it never does.” Or “Who do you think you are that they would want to be friends with you.” Now they are not things other people have said to me. Instead they are things I have said to me- those and many other things like that.
God’s word tells us to take every thought captive. It also tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think on whatever is true, whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy to think of these things. Wow. Most of my thought don’t pass that test! But yet I have a hard time dismissing them just Iike that. “This won’t work, it never does,” is that true? Nope! Out on the first try! “Who do you think you are that they would want to be friends with you,” is that a noble thought? Nope again! Yet we still let those voices talk.
But what if we truly take every thought captive? What if as soon as we have a thought like one of the aforementioned we hold it up to the scrutiny of scripture before letting it wear deep groves into the tracks of our minds that then continue to play over and over and over again. How much happier we would be! How much self loathing we would skip! It always amazes me how happy and content we would be if we would simply heed God’s word! He didn’t create us to be miserable- He created us not to be miserable but to be happy! Why? Because seeing us happy while seeking Him makes Him happy too!
So the next time you’re tempted to continue the monologue of all the ways you’ve messed up and why you deserve to be so unhappy, stop. Take that thought captive. Hold up it to the scrutiny of Scripture and if it doesn’t pass the test- let it go.
I always find that the change of season brings about a change inside me as well. My mood shifts as the sunlight does, and what I crave in my life changes. For me the New Year kicks off, an exciting time thinking of what all I hope to accomplish within that year. I think of this stretch of time as a caterpillar in its cocoon- a season of quiet growth, preparing for the next season. Working steadily with perhaps no results, really leaning into whatever my focus is for that year.
Spring follows winter and I’ll confess spring is really not my favorite season. It’s a time of waiting- and I don’t like to wait. The seeds of hard work have been sewn, the work continues and the days are gray. It seems like so much of this time is spent waiting for the days to pass until summer comes.
After what always seems like an interminable wait summer comes! I usually relax more in the summer than I do other times. The weather is nice, I love being outside and there are many opportunities to gather with friends and family.
Then comes fall, our current season. I love fall but it carries a weight with it. A foreboding of what is to come. I like winter but it does get long and will seem even longer if I don’t prepare myself for it. But fall is also a cozy time of year, I take time to curl up and start a long reflection process of what the year has been. Just like the final crops in the field that are harvested, so I usually start to see the progress of the fruits of my labor from the past year.
But it’s more than that, this feeling that accompanies fall. I think back to the “Good Old Days,” when after all the hard work of the harvest was done on the farms, they would make a celebration of the final harvest. Often this was the last big celebration before winter started. They would enjoy time with friends and family, usually not seeing many of them again until Christmas and then not again till spring.
I feel the same way. I want a pause, to enjoy the rest that used to come with shorter days but that now we have to fight for. I want to enjoy a little quiet after the excitement of summer, and before the beautiful rush of the holidays season starts. To me fall is a time to grab a cup of something hot and delicious. To curl up under a blanket. And to then look around- at the pumpkins in my decor, at the leaves as they turn outside, at anything and everything- and to remember that this season, as all of them should be, is an invitation to count my blessings. It is a time to reflect on all the many blessings that I have been rushing past, too quickly to enjoy, for the past 10 months of the year. It is a time to pause and sit a while; will you join me?
I’m sure you do too. In this fast paced world it is so very hard to balance what needs doing, what should be done, and what we actually want to do! My schedule during the week leaves me with very little time in the evening,(I typically leave my house at 6 or 6:30 am and don’t get home till 7 or 8pm), and therefore makes thorough planning essential. This is my plan for how I approach meal prep for a week so I can cook basically only once a week.
Meal Preparation
Now I should mention that in my house at this time it is just my husband and me, and we have an agreement- I cook, he cleans. This means I almost never do dishes- my husband would go so far as to argue that I never do them- he may be right! But one thing I do all the time is the cooking. We don’t go out to eat very often, and because I can be quite frugal in certain areas of my life,(ahem, cheap), I have never used any meal prep services. Instead I do my own meal prepping. I want to spend as little as possible on good food that is reasonably healthy, spend as little time as possible preparing it, have it taste great and not get bored. At heart I am a foodie who loves flavorful food, so I’m really not about having a baked to death pot roast every night. Or ever. I hate pot roast. But I digress.
For breakfast I typically have a protein smoothie which takes literally a minute to prepare. My husband does intermittent fasting and skips breakfast. (For more on my protein smoothies and how I came to eat them everyday check out Kelly Levesque and her two books, Body Love, and Body Love Everyday.) For Lunch I have a salad bowl and dinner is something that I have either prepared in a crockpot or something that takes hardly any time to assemble.
Now because of my frugality I do my meal prepping one of two ways:
I select a base meal, for example: I buy a whole chicken at the store. Cook it in the crockpot on Monday, and serve it with a side. A sample week could look like this:
Monday: Chicken and a Salad.
Tuesday:Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Steamed Veggies
Thursday: Leftover Chicken Enchiladas
Friday: Chicken Curry and Rice
Saturday: Chicken Tortilla Pizzas
Sunday: Improvisation day!
By the time we get to Sunday we are usually done with our main dish so I make something that I always have on hand that can be easily whipped up, like spaghetti and meatballs.
2) The second way I like to do cost effective meal prep is similar to the first but instead of selecting a base meal, I have base ingredients that I reuse in various ways during the week. For example:
Monday:Vegetable Mexican Soup
Tuesday: Veggie Fish Bake,(lay the fish on a bed of lever over veggies and bake)
Wednesday: Vegetable Soup leftovers
Thursday:Spicy beef and rice
Friday: BBQ Beef Wraps and Salad
Saturday:Beef Stir Fry over Noodles
Sunday: Improvisation Day!
For a week like this I would prep the soup ahead of time to be cooked in the crockpot. Then I would prep the beef for the crockpot or cook utilizing another method. Lastly I could chop any veggies ahead of time, leaving only fish, rice and noodles to be cooked during the week.
That is typically how our week goes, I find that for the 2 of us we typically get 2-3 meals out of any large casserole or crockpot meal, that means I only have to prep 2 or 3 large meals, and then have a few extra ingredients on hand for meals that are quick to throw together and we’re set!
Now let me back up to discuss the meal prep itself. The first step is to write out your menu for the week. But listen! It only takes a few minutes, for me it usually takes about 15 minutes. I come up with a “category,” if you will, that I want to eat that week; chicken in the first example, or beef in the second. I look in the fridge to see if I have extra of an ingredient to use up, a bag of spinach, or tomatoes, and take my findings into account and try to find a recipe that will use it up. I then come up with or search for recipes using my main ingredient,(typically on Pinterest), and then let whatever sounds good guide my choices, (I like to meal plan right before a meal because then I’m hungry and it’s easy to find recipes that sound good!
I do my grocery shopping and then will spend approximately 1-2 hours prepping at some point that weekend, for me Saturday evenings or Sunday early in the afternoon are usually the best times. I start cooking everything that needs to be cooked ahead of time, while the meat cooks I will start slicing and dicing. Then I assemble ingredients for any casseroles or my crockpot. I also prep my lunch bowls at this time. I would say after doing this prep I usually spend less than an hour during the week cooking.
I hope this helps make your cooking life a little bit simpler! What are your meal prep tips and tricks?
When I was seven years old I found this beautiful art set that I wanted like nothing else. It came in a gorgeous wooden case, had graphite pencils, a few watercolors and- oil paints. Ten of them. All of them in their own perfect plastic spot that they could snap in and out of in the case. The set also included 2 canvases, palette for mixing and 2 spatulas for mixing paint colors. As you can see it was an art set like no other- at least to this seven year old mind! But it was $20! That was like a year of allowances! My birthday was far away and Christmas even further. I had to come up with some way to get that money- I wanted that art set so badly!!
A week later I found myself at church- no closer to coming up with the money and I was getting frustrated. There was an alter call and a time of prayer was called. Everyone bowed their heads, some sitting on the pew some kneeling up front at the altar. A collage of voices rose to Heaven.
At this point I had given my little life over to Christ but there was still a little bit of doubt in me. I knew God was real because of what I had been taught- not by what I had experienced. So I decided to ask God for the impossible, If he could do it I would know once and for all that He was real. I asked God to give me a way to make money for the art set- and quickly please. I went away from the church service and told no one about what I had prayed- I didn’t want my test results to get muddled!
The next morning I walked into the room where my mother was and without me even opening my mouth she told me that she had some extra chores I could do if I wanted to make some spending money. Did I ever!! Within 3 days I had earned the money for my art set. And before the week was even up, I was painting with my new oil paints.
People may argue that this was all just coincidence and that is fine- let them argue. But that was when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was real, and He heard me, and He cared about me- a little 7 year old child.
