Zuppa Tuscana and Play Time Make For a Good Day!

This is my "Plans Went Awry" Font. You probably didn't realize I change fonts for each of the days: Times for Contemplation; Verdana for Wholeness, etc. I'm using Trebuchet for when my plans for the day don't work out. I confess that I can't really tell the difference between Verdana and Trebuchet except that Trebuchet seems a little smaller. On the other hand, I can tell the difference between a day filled with stress and a day when I am flexible. 

I started on Part II of Conquering Anger early this morning, but I didn't finish it. I thought I would continue writing later in the day. In the past, I would have pushed on through getting angry at anyone who or anything that blocked my path. For what purpose? What was the use of accomplishing something if no one wanted to share in the joy of the accomplishment? 

Instead, today, I went to my tutoring job, came back up the hill to pick up my granddaughter, played her invented game, and made Zuppa Tuscana. Voila! I'll write on #13 off of the 365 Writing Prompts: What did I eat for dinner? I'm not sure why the list writer figured someone's dinner would be universally interesting; however, I will tell anyone who has read this far that my husband and I ate leftovers on Monday. He ate a leftover hamburger and I ate a baked bean sandwich (using gluten-free bread, of course). You may never have heard of baked bean sandwiches; they might be a mid-west American food as I learned how to make it from my family. Leftovers gone, I made this soup today. 

  
Food photography is not my gift -- the soup even steamed up the camera lens -- but this is a very yummy soup so I'm including my friend Rebecca's recipe here. 

ZUPPA TUSCANA 
1 pound Italian sausage, cooked in the oven
3/4 cup chopped onion 
3 Tablespoons butter 
4 cloves garlic (I used the frozen squares of garlic and they worked fine)
1 cube chicken boullion
4 cups water 
2 thinly sliced potatoes 
2 cups kale, washed, dried, and diced 
1/3 cup whipping cream 
Saute onions in butter for 10 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add water, bouillon and potatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add kale, cream and sausage. Simmer for 5 minutes. Serves 6. (That's what the recipe says, but I had the amount in the bowl shown up above, my husband had two bowls full, and I don't think there were three bowls worth leftover.)

And, I think I will write one last word about overcoming anger: play. I love playing my granddaughter's game because we play it just to laugh and build a relationship that will last long after the game ends, and leave good memories beyond my lifetime. Overcoming anger starts with little steps like learning how to laugh and have joy in one's life. 

Not a picture of my granddaughter and me (no one around to take a picture of us :D), but one from a missions trip. Our joy and laughter at home is just as important as the joy and laughter we share away from home. 

Conquering Anger -- Part I

This angry face image came from a man blogging about his anger at the Twins (baseball team). That kind of anger baffles me. I suppose if he has money he has gambled on the game and they are losing, then that means he is losing as well. It seems like strange behavior to me since his anger can not change the outcome of the game. However, I have been angry. Many times in my life. Yet, when I read on my 365 Writing Prompts list (found not on my List Board as previously blogged; it's on my 2014? Board), the day twelve prompt was "What is making you mad?" and nothing was making mad. In fact, I was having a difficult time remembering the last time I was angry. I am sure my children or husband could tell me in an instant, but I am no longer in the habit of being mad. So, "Conquering Anger" is what I contemplated this past Sunday.

I was interrupted after writing that last sentence (interruptions in the past would have made me angry), and in the intervening time, I realized how long a post this could become! Therefore, I am just going to tackle the first situation that came to mind when I think of my anger: Exhaustion.

Exhaustion, fatigue, tiredness. As a young mom with four children, I encountered fatigue often. I was not in the best of conditions to be kind, loving, or gentle. Sad to say, I made the situation worse by adding more activities to my life at a time when I could have been trying to get some rest. Wait! Don't get mad at me if you are a stay-at-home mom! I'm just telling my story here of one of the factors that made it easy for me to embrace anger.

Even when the children were in school, and I was working outside of the home, I added too many activities. Staying busy with activities happens to be a part of my cultural upbringing. That may not be the case for all readers, but where I live, people value one another by what they accomplish.

I have learned that I have value irregardless of what I accomplish. Those of you who have read some of my previous posts know that I am currently reading a book titled The Swerve. If you believe that you are nothing but atoms, I guess it makes sense that you should live for nothing but pleasure and avoidance of pain. I just haven't quite figured out how everyone can do that all at the same time. I'm thinking as I write here (I imagine you can tell that), and accomplishing something can give a person pleasure, but again, don't we get back to this idea that one is valued because of accomplishments? Also, what do we do when what we want to accomplish conflicts with another's person's desire for accomplishment? Much of the time, we get angry.

Being angry may give temporary pleasure and get a person what he wants, but then the person or people on the receiving end experience pain. I get the impression that people are just supposed to choose to all work together so that everyone will experience pleasure at the same time. Yeah. It doesn't seem to be working.

To be blunt, it takes more faith for me to believe in the "Swerve" than it does for me to believe in a good, loving, Triune God who says I have value, not because of what I do, but because I am uniquely created. He loves for me to be the ultimate me as He created me to be. (Okay, way too much rhyming there.) He doesn't want a cookie cutter person. He doesn't want me to have to do every activity that comes my way just so I can show society that I am a person of value. And, I certainly don't have to be doing anything to earn His love.

He knows my body needs rest to be the best me, and to be the kind of person that simply does not feel driven to anger, wrath, malice, or temper tantrums.

I know there are all kinds of situations that involve times when rest is out of reach such as for the student pictured below (and here is the link to go to some sort of event planning blog that suggests eleven ways to get a good night's sleep -- you might not be able to buy a new bed #11, but the rest are do-able). But, look how long this post is already. Feel free to comment. I'll title this Part I and see where it goes from here.