Friday, December 28, 2007

Falling off the wagon....

Falling off the wagon....

Habits are great things...good habits, I mean. They are great until you fall off the wagon and have to start all over yet again. My eating habits had been great...doing what I needed to do...feeling great....lots of energy....exercising and surprisingly loving it....proud that I was putting good fuel into my body....Then....Christmas came.

As I am pulling myself back up onto that wagon, it's hard. The bad foods stare me in the face and in reality what I need to do is pitch them! Why is it so hard to part with the junk food...the food that I know will only do a disservice to my body. I know I will be sluggish, bloated, gain weight, feel yucky, and yet it still finds its way into my mouth. It's appealing. I think I want it - only to be reminded so quickly after I eat it, of the thoughts I had the prior time I "blew" it. Those yucky bodily feelings. It's not worth it and yet I find myself facing that same wagon all over again & having to pull myself up.

My friend Sarah had a great posting today of the Lord forgiving our sins as far as the East is from the West. I found myself thinking about how my struggle with falling off the wagon is the same exact struggle that we have with sin in our lives. We know it's bad...we know it can destroy a heart...we know is crushes the Lord's heart when we follow our fleshly nature and yet there we are again. We can already for-see the future because we've been in this spot before & yet we do it all over again and I find an immediate sensing of my humanly failures afterwards. But as Sarah so wonderfully put it, the Lord forgives us without hesitation because it's a free gift along with His grace in our lives. Do I strive to lead a sinless life...absolutely. Will I succeed, not on this side of Heaven, but still I try. And my loving Heavenly Father wraps His arms of love, grace, and forgiveness around me, only to then let me go and allow me to try again.

So, I am pulling myself back up on that wagon & throwing that junk food away!

6 comments:

Sarah Markley said...

OH! Good, good to know I am not the only one who fell off of any wagon I had been teetering on before Christmas (with all of the food-shovelling that went on at my house). I threw most of the junk away (including a chocolate tart I labored over and 3 pies). Oh well, they aren't here anymore and I keep throwing things out. I can't seem to locate all of the junk (they are hiding). I have done much better today! Great post and I am glad you had a good Christmas!

I'm Tara. said...

I know exactly what you're talking about, Earen. Exactly. I'm so proud of you and you are so right - we are forgiven. And not in an "Okayyyy, I guess so" way - but "Yes!! Of course!!" and He's eager to cheer us on again. You can do it, my friend.

Short Stop said...

I love this analogy...you are so right...it's SO hard! But, God is faithful in every area of our lives, and He will continue to be faithful to you in this! Your resolve is very admirable!

Merry Christmas, friend!!

Kristen said...

My backside hurts I fell so hard off the wagon!! I started throwing stuff this morning. I can see the counter top and there are not those temptations. It is hard when they are staring right at you saying "Eat me!"

Love the analogy - you are so right!

You have been an inspiration in your weight loss journey! Keep it up!

Shelley said...

Thank you for this! I just ate 2 cookies, right before I sat down at the computer, and even as they entered my mouth I knew I would regret it! As I walked away I thought, "I should really just throw the rest of this out!" I'm not sure why we let it all hang around forever. I love how you tied this struggle to sin. It really is amazing the similarities. Just yesterday I was having a conversation with my daughter about choices. The converstation started with talking about choices in our attitudes, and then progressed to choices we make to be healthy! As we talked about food choices (mainly sugar intake) she said, "But Mama, it just tastes so GOOD!" I said, "I know sweetie, but just because it tastes so good, doesn't mean it's good for your body." It just hit me that THAT is what God probably tries to tell us! Something may "taste" good for a short time, but in the long run, be very bad for our lives. WOW! What a revelation! Now I really regret those cookies! I'm off to throw them away! (sorry I rambled!)

Anonymous said...

Let's not talk about the dozen chocolate chip cookies I just ate!:)
How do you fall off when you never choose to get on the wagon in the first place? I know, I know----I'm gonna get on soon.