Seeing God in my diet

So let’s not look at the fact that I started and stopped this blog several months ago. The point is .... I’m back! Besides this is how so many of us live our lives anyway isn’t it? We start one program (for us ladies usually a weight loss program),we go into it full blast and then suddenly lose steam and more likely than not – we forget it altogether. Aaah! I suspect I am speaking from the perspective of the 4 bars of chocolate I consumed earlier today despite my hour-long walk this morning. Sigh! But then again, tomorrow is and always will be ‘another day’ and another chance to try to get it right.

Kind of reminds me of God and the way He opens Himself to us for every ‘another day’ that He chooses to give us. Yes, sometimes our relationship with God is really like the proverbial diet. One day we are all over Him, full speed, fully committed and in love with Him. We are constantly in the Word, listening to and reading the Word. At various fellowships, watching Christian television, praying for hours on end.....and then one day just as suddenly we become lukewarm in our approach to Him. We get busy, we get discouraged, we get lazy, we feel unworthy, etc and so we just pull back. I mean how many times have I convinced myself that I am a very happy size 14 anyway so why bother with the dieting? Kinda like when we get to the stage of ‘I’m so far away from God anyway and I’ve fallen so short that He can’t approve of me, so why try to get close to Him anyway?’. Interesting!

Beyond our relationship with God on the spiritual plane, I think about how we manifest the God-in-us in the physical. Whether by way of our relationships with our fellow women or men, with our children, with our workers, etc I think about how often what we do does not align with the calling we have from Christ to love our neighbours as Christ loved us; to love and diligently pray for those who persecute us; to just treat people right simply because they are as well created in the image and likeness of God. Just like our bodies which we so often disregard as the temple of the Holy Ghost, and so pump it with inappropriate foods/sweets/snacks only to later turn and proclaim a new diet, our relationships with those in our atmosphere immediately places a test on whether we are actually walking our talks.

More and more, I find that God is dealing with me about how effectively I am putting His Word to practice in every area of my life – in how I treat myself, how I think about myself, and in how I think about and treat others whom He sends my way for one reason or the other. I realize that He will not be judging me on how much Scripture I know, how many times I went to church, how many fellowships I attended, but rather how many lives I truly impacted for the kingdom and whether I was faithful to my ‘diet’. God is going to be looking at how many times I started and stopped the projects he brought my way. How many times did He prompt me to act or speak   certain way to my husband, children, relatives, staff, etc and I didn’t carry through? How many times did He ask me to get some much needed rest and I chose to rather continue the plunge into one project or the other to the detriment of my health and wellbeing?

 These are the days that call for sober reflection and that I have been doing over the past couple of weeks. I am filled with a very deep desire to ensure that I am translating all the ‘Christianese’ that I speak into a practical everyday walk in every area of my life. Not an easy journey but, as long as God is willing to give me even just one more ‘another day’, I’m going to keep at it. Besides, by HIS strength I can do ALL things.