Faith and greens...?

The other night I made beans, rice and rainbow chard for dinner. I had this recipe for marinated kale and I thought I would try it with the chard. I don't think I did it right because it turned out... not so great. I thought it was at least edible; my husband, not so much. He ended up forcing it down but it definitely sparked conversation. Greens are definitely an acquired taste. When you grow up eating only mainstream vegetables that have large amounts of cheese or cream or sugar on them, changing to steamed or only lightly salted/seasoned dark leafy greens is a challenge. I was forced to eat things like asparagus and brussel sprouts growing up so it's a TINY bit easier for me than it is for him... but for a person like myself that has always hated eating veggies, switching to a plant based diet is hard at times. I fully believe that eventually I will grow to love them and will be able to eat them plain, without blending them up in a smoothie, disguised by fruit and ice.

This whole discussion got me thinking about faith in a way. First, because I think there are things in our faith that are an 'acquired taste'. There are teachings that seem unappealing and hard to swallow, but then once you start following them, you grow to love them and realize that they're good for you... and that some of the things you 'ate' beforehand were just junk that tasted good going down but then made you fat/sick/unhealthy.

Following this metaphor (which, like all metaphors are imperfect), I think it's important to know the WHY behind what you're doing. Me, I've read the books behind our new diet. I've watched the videos. I'm convinced that I'm doing the right thing overall and it's not so challenging to eat the healthy food and avoid the things I used to eat for the most part. But my husband hasn't read the books yet or watched the videos. While he's on board most of the time, there are some days when he really just wants a Duane Purvis burger, followed by a huge milkshake. It's harder for him to love this diet plan when he just thinks about comfort food and sees the diet as something that's imposed upon him. (For the record--we're not totalitarian about this diet thing and still include those things on occasion...!!)

How often does that happen with our faith? While we don't necessarily need to question everything--I'm not supporting cafeteria ideology here-- I think it's important to know WHY we do what we do in order to do it better, with love and conviction. Why and how do we genuflect? Why is it important to go to Mass on Sunday? What really happens at consecration? Why does the Church hold certain teachings about life and love? Etc., etc....

When we start to look into these things... really look and study, with an open mind rather than our cultural mindset and what's popular... then perhaps we'll learn something. And be convinced. And not be resentful to the one (One) who is imposing this upon me and 'forcing' me to 'eat healthy', but rather thankful that I'm becoming healthier--whether that be in body, mind or spirit.