Awareness

Awareness     

“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Prv. 16:18, Life Application Study Bible).  I lived that proverb this past week. 

On Saturday I began brainstorming about this blog posting and wrote the following words:  “This week has been a good week of eating.  I haven’t binged—not even on grapes!!  I’ve eaten nutritionally and the right amounts.  I feel blessed.  Grace, it’s all grace.”

            Guess what? On Sunday I binged on grapes and pineapple.

            Today I question myself:  What does God want me to learn from this?  Certainly, I am to realize pride, probably cockiness also? 

            I think the Wise One wants me to realize I may eat finger foods, but I need to sit down and eat a SERVING of a finger food.  Instead, last Sunday I set the bowl of grapes on the kitchen counter, put a few in my hand and played Word for Friends on my phone as I ate the grapes and coming back to the bowl whenever the handful was gone.  I can eat a lotta grapes (or potato chips, or chunks of pineapple, or popcorn or, nuts,  or . . .) that way.

            When I eat “on the go,” or while watching TV, texting, or reading, I am unaware of how much I am eating.  Being unaware of what I’m putting into my mouth causes me to eat more than I need.

            So the lesson I’ve learned this week is that whether snacking or eating a meal, I need to sit, preferably at a table, and be conscious of how much food I eat.

                                                                                                                        Sharon Witty

                                                                                                                        September 20, 2018

P.S.  I also learned it’s not wise to be cocky about one’s “good” behavior.

Craving What?

“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’” (Numbers 11:4-6 NIV).

Do you ever crave a food? What do you crave? Craving is an all-consuming desire. Women who have experienced pregnancy probably can share something they craved. Sometimes there are other health factors that create cravings. If you desire chewing ice it may be a sign that you are anemic. There may be others; please share. 

Though I’m no longer pregnant or anemic, ice cream is my nearly constant craving. Is it the dairy content or the creamy, smooth, comfort food characteristic? I wish there was some physical reason I crave ice cream but I’m afraid it is just its cool deliciousness.

Imagine the life of a prisoner of war being fed a basic minimalistic meal of bread and water. I wonder if he/she craved anything specific. I can’t really imagine being lost in the desert and provided one thing to eat for weeks, months, or even 40 years!

I’m pretty sure I would have been one of those complaining, not thanking God for His provision every day like clockwork. Not thanking God for doing all the work of preparation and delivery of a healthy meal that was filling and nourishing.

God is so good to us, even when we don’t appreciate it. Although we can’t eat a diet of candy bars or sweet cakes and pies and brownies and lasagna and chicken and noodles and prime rib and ice cream all day long, every day, we canmake choices, healthy choices that will give our bodies what they need to function and be strong.

Thank you, God for helping us appreciate what we have. Help us make the decisions that are best for our physical and mental health. And thank you for ice cream, too.

By Gloria D. Stewart