My child screamed at me with nearly enough velocity to blow me over. He must be related to the Big Bad Wolf.
“I’m sick of this COVID-19 crap! I just want it to be over!”
We were trying to complete a grammar worksheet. I was trying to teach him how to discern between past perfect, present perfect, and future perfect verbs. I was confused by sentence diagraming in grade school and it confuses me still. I don’t know what purpose it serves other than to confuse and madden the average person.
I was also trying to do the job for which I receive compensation. I had finished a conference call with my boss and with a group I take notes for. I still needed to consolidate, edit and send them out to the group but I was impeded by a tiny tyrant; my son.
He thumped up and down the hallway. He stomped in his room. He took turns screeching like a banshee and moaning like Myrtle. He wept. He complained. For three hours. I could do nothing to console him—not even taking a break or doing different school work was effective in de-escalating his frustrated fit.
Have you ever felt more marshmallow than man?
The ramifications of this pestilence rage on. Joblessness. Hiring and wage freezes. Unruly children. Petulant bosses who expect the moon delivered on a silver platter from a less-than-stoic workspace. It’s enough to make a person want to eat. In fact, if I judge reality by the memes on social media, I don’t think any one will fit back into their work clothes when the noxious stench of pandemic blows over. Which may be a good thing for retailers and fad diet hawkers.
So, I ask myself again, do I have what it takes to maintain strict discipline under intense stress? Am I a man or a marshmallow?
What about you? What gets your goat? Are you stress baking? Stress Netflix binging? Stress drinking or chain vaping? Or, are you one of those really obnoxious friends hanging out in their home like, “I’m cool. What pandemic? This is my normal. At least now I can go shopping without the crowds.”
“Character makes up the foundation of who we are.” Dr. Kathy Koch
Re-order your thinking
I decided last week I was not going to fall into the trap of emotional eating. That’s right. I decided and I’m sticking to it. My character depends on the sanity of rebuking my inner impulses. I refuse to bake cookies, eat fatty take-out, or basically abuse my body with impetuous indulgence.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t think about it.
The truth is, I think about food lot. I have even been dreaming about food. Cupcakes. Cake. Chocolate. You name it, I’m eating it (in my dreams). But I’m not eating it in real life. The reason for this is that I am a strong-willed child. That’s right, Mom. That really aggravating trait that made you insane when I was a kid is now my greatest attribute. A mind is a funny thing once it’s made up. I’m learning even a food addict can stick to her guns when the gooey-butter cake starts flying.
But I’m here to tell you that temptation will not stick to your Teflon if you re-order a few things.
Re-order your priorities
“Without knowing our strengths, overcoming our challenges and compensating for weaknesses will be difficult, if not impossible.” Dr. Kathy Koch
I don’t feel particularly strong in my resolve to abstain from emotional eating. In fact, I’m a hairs breadth away from falling headlong into the fondue pot, but my strength does not reside in myself; it comes from my God.
Those who don’t now how mighty God is are really missing out. Let me explain.
I am a marshmallow. I did the jiggly belly dance in the mirror just before I wrote this to remind myself just how squishy I am. That jiggly belly spent years absorbing M&M’s and Taco Bell and growing beyond my wildest expectations. It got so big that when I was pregnant with my third child, someone said, “I can’t even tell you are pregnant.” I was in my 8th month of gestation. I got so good at caving in to temptation that I didn’t even know I was being tempted. I ate too much of the wrong things and never exercised. Therefore, I was severely overweight. I believed the lie that I had no power over my choices.
Then I re-ordered my priorities. I made lifelong discipline of utmost significance. I wanted to learn a new way of life and stick to it forever. Has it been easy? Nope. But it has been worthwhile.
Re-Order what you Love
My love affair with food is over. But the gaping hole it left was untenable. Now, I fill my heart with the love of God instead. That love is so supremely soul satisfying that I have the strength to resist going back to my former flame.
I thought about this today when I was riding my bike against the wind. If you have never done this, I highly recommend it. For the second time in a week I made the decision to exercise in the wind even though I knew it wouldn’t be comfortable. I wanted to see if I had the stamina to resist the un-resistable. I did. This is what got me to thinking about what it actually takes to live a healthy lifestyle. It takes grit. It takes determination. It takes discipline. But I want my dear readers to know that the real reason I continue to live a healthy lifestyle is because I’m a great sinner, saved from hell by a great Savior. Jesus enduring work on the cross enables me to resist sinning (with food) and to do other really hard things.
Like not losing my temper with my temper-tantrum toting kid. Today, I prayed out loud and I remembered with what great difficulty Jesus did not back-hand any Pharisees. Don’t you think he was tempted? Just read some of those heated discussions in the gospels. He resisted temptation so that he might be a faithful help to me in my hour of need. By His grace, I cling to him with love and hope that one day I will not be tempted to sin any longer because I will be with him in Heaven. I obey him because I love him and am loved by Him. That is real grit and strength!
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23
How about you? Are you a man or are you a marshmallow? If you said the latter, take heart. Jesus died for marshmallows!
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