Life of Pie
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Did you fall for that? If not, congratulate yourself for being scam-savvy. Because, you know, everything has a price. You know what your mother always said. If it seems too good to be true, it is.
Everything you say or do, everything you get for "free," everything has a price tag. When you download a "free app" you sign up for ads. When you watch a "free" YouTube, you watch a commercial. When you get a "free" sample at Costco, that's a shift in your brain toward Costco. (For good reason.)
I've been thinking about this a lot with food and about the price of food choices. There are some people who want to eat healthy, and therefore categorically avoid certain foods. For instance, some people have to avoid gluten. Some avoid white sugar or flour. Others avoid meat and chicken.
For me there is a price to pay when I categorically avoid foods. The way my brain works, if I deprive myself completely from certain foods, I'll crave them more in an unhealthy way. Yet, when I know that it's not kosher, or it's a fast day - there's no price! In my head, I just KNOW it's off-limits and I'm not eating it, and the struggle is gone.
For each person, that price will vary, depending on what your habits are. There is a price when you eat the pie, and there is a price when you avoid the pie. And the question is, which price do you want to pay? A friend confided in me that she has attempted to fast many times and has been unable to complete the fast. So she got food, but what's the price? She feels terrible about her relationship with food. She feels unhealthfully attached to eating.
A life of pie has a price, and a life without pie has a price. Which price do you want to pay? A life of giving has a price, and a life without giving has a price. Which price do you want to pay? A life with Shabbat has a price, and a life without Shabbat has a price. Which price do you want to pay?
Shabbat Shalom!
Ruchi
