Attitude Toward Food

This past year has brought a few changes. The way I feel about them now is that they weren't that big; but at the time, they felt enormous.

To keep it simple-I've had opportunity to think about nutrition, and, there has been some reading.

Throughout the process, the Lord was working in a variety of ways. One specific way was my attitude toward food, and how it related to other aspects of life that typically invite self-control.

As a Christian, the goal for my life is to do what is pleasing to the Lord. If He advises prudence in an area, I try to exercise that. If meat offered to idols causes my brother to sin, I can forgo...the idea of a millstone if I cause a weaker brother to stumble has also tended to offer some motivation.

My life is not my own, right? I strive to be OK with that in all areas.

The obvious ones of sexual purity, not drinking alcohol, raising my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, language, books and movies I take in, and how I dress often come to the front of my mind to make sure they are pleasing to the Lord (not that I am faultless, but it is my goal to not cast hurt on the name of my Savior).

Yet, for some reason, while I strive to exercise self-control in all these areas, willingly denying myself what I might WANT...food was not on the table. Nope. It was an empty table.

I ate what I wanted, when I wanted, by and large. Somehow I had a category for food that nothing else in my life fit in to.

Can you imagine a Christian wife and mother doing what she wanted, when she wanted, with cooking? Cleaning? Home educating? Sex? Manner of dress or speech? Indulgence in alcohol?? Spending???!!! Tone of voice? (the horrors!) Seriously folks, it gets ugly fast, doesn't it?

Suffice to say, God is good. He doesn't leave us as He found us.

Is it hard to not do what I want when I want in the area of eating? Yes.

Is it hard to not do what I want when I want in the area of parenting? Sure, sometimes.

What about with how long I sleep? If I exercise? What I purchase? How frequently I share the truth of God? Life is hard as we try to be all we can for God's glory. This is not new information. The Christian life is a life of self-denial.

So, with food....

I'm trying to be consistent. I actually got disgusted with my utter oversight of this area of my life. How could I have not ever thought of food as 'good enough'?? Why did it always have to be the best? Why wouldn't avocado pudding satisfy just because there is something that tastes better out there (as in, in my pantry?!)??

God has given me one life to live and one body to live it in. Shall I not strive to glorify Him as best I can in all areas? Why was food not on my table of things I was willing to deny myself with? 

That has been one noteworthy lesson this year, and I'd be dishonest if I didn't say the fringe benefits of this have been... quite nice. I might miss eating what I wanted when I wanted, but I don't miss heartburn. I don't miss short, weak fingernails. I don't miss headaches or shoulder pain. I don't miss being overweight and how winded I'd get or how my clothes used to fit (or the size I used to be). And I don't miss when driving without glasses was illegal. Yes! My eyesight improved greatly, and it happened two months after this big dietary change.

I don't like to talk to folks about exactly what I do or don't eat. It is a personal thing that has evolved over the course of the last 9 months, but I will share that it is worthwhile to put every area of our lives on the table before God, and be willing to say that in all things, 'good enough' can be worth considering.

We give a little and get a little, right?