I like the fact that this journey is going to make me face an area of my life where I lack self control. My self control right now, when it comes to food, is a wee bit messy. I find it insane how hard it is for me not to snack at times or pass on something I know wouldn't be the wisest choice for me right now. For example... today at lunch my friends ordered cheese fries from heaven. A pile of salty fries with melted cheese over them... they proceeded to dip them into glorious ranch dressing. I sat there with pain in my being, I literally had to close my eyes at one point (where I quickly imagined swimming around in a pool of that ranch) and laugh at myself for how much I wanted to eat them. I totally could have had a bite or two, no biggy, but I said “i’ll pass” simply because I’m trying to practice self control. I was thinking about why I even care about self control so much and 2 main thoughts came to my mind.
- This affects all of life. As a wife, mom, home school teacher, church member, friend, driver, grocery shopper, etc...I need to be able to choose what I believe is right/best and not be swept away by every feeling, circumstance or pile of cheese fries.
- You might roll your eyes here and be thinking, ugh, not another Christian blog. Its not my intention to turn this into a “Christian Blog” but there is no way my thinking about this can be separated from my faith. It touches every area of my life and I know Brianne feels the same. It just so happens the bible speaks a lot about self control. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit Gal 5:22-23, in 2 Peter 1:5-7 it is mentioned as something we need to be growing in, 2 Tim 1:7, 1 Peter 4:7....and more. The very fact that God guides us in His word about having and growing in it is enough for me to place an importance on it. I will not do this perfectly, of course, but the fact that this journey will cause me to refine this area of my spiritual walk is quite the added benefit.
Once again, I’m not saying I’ll never eat heavenly cheese fries, I’m just saying that I want to be able to say no if I want to. I succeeded in passing on something today, Brianne was at the table too so that made it a bit easier, but I’m sure I’ll need to spill my guts about something that I caved on in another post.
-Kristin
-Kristin
I'm trying to have the mentality that every meal counts. Meaning even if I made bad choices at the last meal I can make good choices at this one. I'm totally a if I blow it then I'll just keep blowing it and start over on "Monday" kinda gal. Great job on making through this meal with good choices!
ReplyDeleteGood point, "Starting on Monday" never works for me!
DeleteSomething I read this week in Gretchen Rubin's book, Happier at Home, made a lot of sense to me...
ReplyDelete"When offered wine, [Samuel] Johnson declined, explaining, 'Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult.' That's me! I'd realized. Johnson and I were 'abstainers' who found it much easier to abstain than to indulge moderately. I'm not tempted by things I've decided are off-limits, but once I've started something, I have trouble stopping. If I never do something, it requires NO self-control for me; if I do something sometimes, it requires ENORMOUS self-control.
" 'Moderators,' by contrast, do better when they act with moderation, because they feel trapped and rebellious at the thought of 'never' getting or doing something. Occasional indulgence heightens their pleasure and strengthens their resolve.
"...but there's no one right way: different approaches work for different people."
Anywhoooo...I don't know exactly why your story above brought this passage to mind...but it was such a help, an "eye-opener" for me...thought maybe it would help you a bit, too.
I've been following K for a while on IG, now following B, too. I've got to say, though, following you two on this journey has been fun. Can't wait to see what's in store.