It has almost been a month since my plastic bag ban (http://www.thetapestry.ca/blog/lil_al/plastic_bags_are_forever_forever_forever) and I think I should extend my fast. This is primarily because, well, I haven’t been grocery shopping much in the past little while as I usually do. But, with school starting and routine settling in, I see myself going much more consistently now. During the few times that I did try to grocery shop some things did come to mind though. 

First, do all pita packs come in plastic bags?! In my desire to momentarily divorce my grocery shopping from environmentally damaging plastic have I also divorced myself from perhaps one of the most delicious grain products ever made? Hummus and French bread just doesn’t taste the same at all. 

Second, My last few grocery bills have been slightly more expensive than usual because plastic bags are a lot more ubiquitous than I ever imagined. Instead of buying wonder-bread I am buying fresh bread in paper bags, instead of buying heads of lettuce and putting them in plastic produce bags I’m buying the pre-shredded stuff in recycle-able containers, and I also haven’t been able to buy bulk products. 

Finally, by informal count I have saved 7 plastic bags after only going grocery shopping twice. It doesn’t seem like much but through the course of a year I could potentially save more than 80 bags and that’s a significant amount of plastic!

I think for the rest of September I will continue the plastic bag strike but a lot more purposively. I’ll bring some Tupperware to carry my bulk purchases in, and invest in some paper bags to buy produce. I even thought of getting one of those cart things I see older people wheeling around to fit everything in, but in the end I think the old backpack is doing a fine job. I may also go to Mountain Equipment Coop and grab a corn bag or two just in case I’m in a pinch. 

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I once heard that living a healthy life is all about small choices. Do you get the regular potato ships or the ones with 50% less salt. Do you get the lean ground beef or the regular stuff. Do you cook with less rich sauces or pile on the gravy when the mashed potatoes get passed your way. In many ways I think the whole plastic bag thing  has been kind of like that. Seven plastic bags aren’t a whole lot, but I don’t think it’s about the numbers, nor is it about finding ways to never use plastic again. Instead I think it is about making small purposive steps in establishing a lifestyle that loves and cares for God’s creation a little bit more.

  I don’t think it stops there though. Many positive changes in lifestyle usually are precipitated by small, purposeful, sometimes difficult, movement. Including our walks with God. Doing our devotions in the morning. Saying grace for a meal. Reading our bibles. Thanking God for something good. They all are indispensable steps in establishing a right relationship with God and each other. They are small steps that slowly strengthen and infuse our frames in a way that make our legs less wobbly as we set  ourselves to walking in the light. Eventually we may find ourselves stopping for fewer breathers but hopefully taking the time to help and encourage one another when we need them. Together, we can help each other become more fully human. 

However, much of the times sin creeps into our lives in small starts too. Tiny, little omissions of our conscience that can get so large we become trapped under their weight. Little strands of lies that can be spun so intricately that we deceive even ourselves. It’s in those dark moments that I think feelings of defeat, helplessness, or (worst of all) reluctant compliance can be close by.

Last year my theology professor shared with us his love for the bubble gum that used to come in packages of baseball cards when he was young (bear with me here). That sweet stiff, chewy, unnaturally pink stuff that loses ifs flavor so quickly. He told us how he had recently found a stick of it and without hesitation stuffed the long lost piece nostalgia into his mouth for a good chew only to spit it out again as quickly as it went in. To him, the gum simply no longer tasted good anymore. What once was a delight to his senses had become unappealing after years of purposively eating right along with those around him. That is my prayer for you today; that you live your life in such a way that the things that are bad for you become less and less instead of more and more appealing, and that we can do that together, encouraging one another along the way. Is there something that you think would be a purposive step in the forming your relationship you would like to commit to for this month? This week? Today? Right now? What do you think are the things that keep us from taking or committing to these steps?