Imperfection

Remember that post I wrote on self-forgiveness? Yeah, I'm having to practice that a lot. I'm having to face my imperfections.

I've always been a perfectionist (like in high school I would rip pages out of my notebook and rewrite them if I made a mistake). I thought I was getting better, caring less about the perfect, and more about the pure, good, and lovely things of life (Phil 4:8). But God's been showing me lately that I still have a long way to go.

Like I've always been a regimented exerciser. I try to follow a pretty strict schedule, and most of the time, it's worked for me. But lately, I've been tired. My body has hurt. So I've been taking time off walking with mom (saving cardio for runs to train for Pat's Run) doing yoga instead of weights, etc. I've felt lazy sometimes, but my body has thanked me by holding up for my runs.

Then there's the whole matter of training for Pat's Run. When I run, I run 3 miles, and a "hard" race is 5K. Now I'm taking on 4.2 miles. It's not that much further...but it is. I was "on schedule" with training, and then suddenly realized I was a week off. And that upset me. It wasn't that I didn't think I could do the next, harder week, but that I'd missed a week. I wanted to follow the schedule.

My eating is still all over the place. Like Tuesday night, there wasn't dinner at Bible study (I thought there would be), so I had a package of Nature's Valley peanut butter chocolate granola cups to tide me over. When I got home, I had a bowl of chocolate applesauce almond butter oatmeal (based off this recipe) and a TON of cereal. And I felt kind of sick afterwards, but I was so hungry.

And then there's chores around the house. I usually help my mom clean the bathroom on Wednesdays, and this Wednesday, I totally forgot, which meant she did it all. She was gracious with me, but I felt terrible!

So yeah, I'm pretty much imperfect. I don't have my life together. I fail at lots of things. And I'm human. A human in need of a perfect Savior. A perfect Savior who paid the perfect price for all my sins so that I can forgive myself...and others...for being imperfect.

30 Days of Oatmeal: Pumpkin Almond Butter Mug Cake

Here's something different for you: a mug cake/microwave baked oatmeal recipe. This recipe features pumpkin and almond butter and cooks up quite nicely. (Make sure to add enough liquid, though!)

This recipe isn't sweet, so feel free to add in a teaspoon of maple syrup if you like.

Ingredients:

1/3 c quick cooking oats
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c pumpkin puree
2-4 T milk or water

Directions:

1. Grease a small cup and add oats and spices. Stir to mix.
2. Add pumpkin puree and 2 T milk water. Stir. If mixture is dry, stir in more liquid 1 T at a time.
3. Microwave three minutes.
4. Let cool for two minutes and then dig in!

30 Days of Oatmeal: Pumpkin Pie Spiced Oats with Orange Vanilla Almond Butter

I went with a simple base for oatmeal again, since I wanted to experiment with more nut butter mixes. This orange almond butter smelled fresh and exhilarating, but when I went to eat it, the orange was a big too much. Lucky for you, I reduced the amount of extract by half for the posted recipe.

Again, nothing special about the oat base, but the nut butter topping is a nice, lighter twist on a regular bowl of oats.

Ingredients for the porridge:

1/2 c quick cooking oats
1 c water
4 t dark cocoa powder
1 t cinnamon

Ingredients for the orange vanilla almond butter:

2 T almond butter
1 t vanilla
1/2 t orange extract
Enough water to make the mixture spreadable (about 1 T)

Directions:

1. Bring the oats and water to a boil and reduce heat to medium.
2. When oats reach the desired consistency, stir in the cocoa powder and cinnamon.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the orange vanilla almond butter ingredients until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour the porridge into a bowl and top with the nut butter mixture.

Strawberry Almond Cardamom Oatmeal

Remember when I tried that strawberry cardamom oatmeal? I really didn't like the earthy, spicy flavor of the oats. But I think I figured out the trick: add oatmeal to the applesauce. Are you surprised? This is my favorite trick, after all.

Then add the fruit and some almond butter on top. Mmm!

Ingredients:

1/2 c old-fashioned oatmeal

1 c water

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1/4 t cardamom

1 T (or more) natural almond butter

4 fresh strawberries, sliced

Cinnamon

Directions:

1. Bring water and oats to a boil and reduce heat to medium.

2. When oats reach the desired consistency, stir in the applesauce and cardamom. Simmer oatmeal on low until some of the liquid from the applesauce absorbs and the oats become thick and rich.

3. Transfer oatmeal to a bowl, and top with the almond butter, sliced strawberries, and cinnamon.