Day 78 - Hope

Ahhh we always need hope don't we.  Hope is the fuel that keeps my heart beating even in the most dire of circumstances.  From little things to the deep things of our soul Hope is the light that shines down the cistern when we are at the bottom and the water is rising.  Hope is the hand that reaches down and offers a way out.  The eating plan in this blog's context is not one of those little thing's as I used to think.  I can say that because I have discovered and admitted that I have sometimes allowed food to be my controlling factor for hope.  How sad to depend on something created for temporary life to provide me with eternal fulfillment.  The  things God created to feed my body's nutritional needs and keep it alive are good things, but their purpose was not to fill my mind with the search for the ultimate taste sensation that would completely satisfy my every longing. 

If that sounds bizarre to you, that a person could expect or hope something that could spoil and rot if not used up would bring peace or joy or satisfaction, perhaps you have not been enslaved by food, or perhaps you have not yet admitted it. I am not condemning anyone - how would I dare when my Hope (Tikvati), has not condemned me!  I Peter 1:3 and 4 - "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—"

What a hope.  It will never die.  It will never spoil.  It will never fade or diminish.  The transliteration of Hope - Tikvati - is literally, a cord as an attachment; figuratively, expectancy—expectation, and thing that I long for. 

From experience I can affirm that no food, no person, no thing, nothing else can fill that void of that thing I truly long for.  As Psalm 71:5 says, YOU are my Hope, O Lord God.."

The sweet scent of Ken's lasagne was tempting, and I just had to try some - it smelled so good.  Seedless cucumbers on the right and an exciting find of an Asian Pear from Walmart.  It is identical in taste and texture to the Pear-Apples I was hooked on from Sam's Club, a little less costly, plus I don't have to purchase a whole boxful at once.


Dinner was somehow even more flavorful than the same food was yesterday.  The abundance of smoked pork is thinly sliced and warmed, and served with the remaining red cabbage.  I will have to check German recipes, for this was exceptionally good. The beverage is mango and strawberries pureed with a little rice milk. Delicioso

Again, I recommend Gerhard's restaurant in Kenosha.