13 Feb Simple, Not Easy: My Rice & Beans Reflections by Todd Workhoven

The San Francisco treat you say?

This year was my first rice & Beans experience, and I was determined and excited to dive in as much as possible. Simplicity, solidarity, and sharing! Huzzah! I remember lining up my beans in rows according to variety and color, putting my rice in spanking new Tupperware containers, organizing my medley of spices and oils just so, and taking a nice gander at the shelves. It looked beautiful. Crisp. Clean. Simple. But then my brain knocked on the back of my eyes.

* knock knock *

“Um, yeah…hello? Eyes? It’s your brain. This is pretty and all, but how is that going to be food? You know, like food food. For eating. For a month.” Then it set in: Lahash performed a wonderful move of verbal jujitsu by using the word “simplicity.” This was going to be simple, but not easy. Big difference.

Let’s say I were to write a whole sentence without using the letter “E.” It’s a simple task, but it’s not easy…. I must strain my mind, twist my thoughts around, contort my usual way of doing things, focus my brain, jump through linguistic hoops, and totally train again my usual way of thinking. (Whew, I did it!)

And just like writing that “No ‘E’” sentence, eating rice and beans sometimes just ended up in a convoluted mess that not only felt unusual in my mouth, but didn’t always look that great either. But it was quite doable.

It’s astonishing how pervasive my Rice & Beans thoughts were – even when I was eating something else. It provoked not only thoughts of simplicity, solidarity, and sharing, but those of dependency, sacrifice, contentment, God’s ultimate love and provision, and a united community eager to join the Lord wherever He leads.

It was a blessing knowing that others were on this journey with me, making the same bleak “What’s for dinner tonight?” jokes I was. It allowed me to tap into something that feels so real – something so tangible, emotional, and spiritual that I got to share with others here in Portland, across the United States, and across the world. And that’s pretty awesome.

Or, if you’re not using the letter “E,” “amazingly profound.”