Weighing In; Cutting down

Three of us in my household are weighing in regularly. (That I know of)

Some of us weigh ourselves more than once a day.

It's a regular topic in our house, and that's because we're working hard on it and are having some modest success. When you're afraid of what the scale says, you generally avoid it. Which is what I'd done for the last year or so. But, "the time has come, the walrus said..."

Of course, my husband loses faster than I do. Men do. They can think about not eating and drop a pound, whereas, we women just look at pictures of food in a magazine and we can't fit in our favorite jeans.

Consequently, when we do actually eat, we want it to count.

So we're avoiding bad stuff, like desserts, and sausage. Guess what? We're surviving without them just fine. Who knew?

What are you trying to cut out of your life?

Seduction of Food

I've been trying to shed a few pounds. Who isn't? The only way it works for me is to say 'no' to foods I want. Not all foods, but some. I've realized just how tied I am to some food choices, such as that bit of chocolate in the afternoon. Or the butter in my oatmeal (now I've really confessed).

Sweets in particular can all but take over every holiday, if you think about it. What is Valentine's Day without chocolate? What are birthdays without cake? What is Easter without a basket of candy? What is Christmas without cookies, pecan pie, gingerbread? ...my mouth is watering...

I've been doing without sweets (mostly) for a while now, and guess what? They don't have as big a hold on me as they did.That doesn't mean I don't want them. I just don't want them as much. I can live without them.

Food can be a seductress. I mean, we have to eat everyday, right? So it's natural that what we eat is a matter for thought regularly. And after all, food was the object of the first temptation. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! My father used to say "I don't live to eat, I eat to live". I can't quite claim that as my mantra. But I am trying to put food in it's proper place - as a tool for living. I hold the tool. It doesn't hold me.
Jesus said life is more than food and clothes. I think He meant that there is meaning in life far beyond what we see, hear, taste, or touch. After all, chocolate can only so so much for you, and then it lets you down big time. I don't want to be seduced by anything.

What is your relationship to food?

What Do You Do Everyday?

During my 30 day Count Your Blessings Challenge, I had a birds eye view of the greatest moments of my life, and I am blessed indeed. It was a challenge in more than one way.  


If you take the time to do this, I guarantee it will be rewarding.

Now I am released to freestyle swim in the blog stream, and it is exhilarating.

Blogging everyday makes you feel a sense of responsibility to the outside world. I feel many of you are reading, and wanting to chime in. I'd like to hear your thoughts on a variety of subjects.

Today's question is:

As you go about your day, what one thing do you consistently do each day? Is there something that you'd like to do more consistently?

I Wrap It Up: Day 30 of the Count Your Blessings Challenge

Well it's happened. I've got blessings running over and I've run out of month.

In my attempt to wrap this up, I've got to share with you some of my hopes and dreams.

I have four adolescent/young adult daughters. How many times over the past couple years would I have loved to pamper them! To take them all for pedicures, shopping and lunch on a whim. To buy their friends lunch. To throw big backyard parties. To let them decorate their rooms all at once, refurnish their bedrooms. To take them on family vacations, to buy their yearbooks and new school clothing (both - not one or the other). To go and get our hair done all together. To buy them the books they want. To buy them all new bikes. To help buy them each a car. To travel to visit colleges. To pay for college. It's been so tight. Instead they've seen the utilities turned off. Heard us for hours on the phone with creditors. They've never been hungry, but sometimes it wasn't the food they wanted. They've shopped second hand frequently. I could go on, but I don't want to sound whiny.

The question sneaks in: Where's the blessing?

Two-part, if you must ask. First of all, I know what my girls are like when they don't have everything. And finer girls you never saw! Having everything you want usually makes a different (and not so pleasant) person out of you than not having everything. My girls are living proof of this, and I am so proud of them.  I guess underneath it all, more than the material blessings, the nurturing of their spirits is what I've truly wanted. The second part is this. I've trusted God with my whole life. If He can promise me that all things work together for good and His glory, then I can trust that no matter what I go through, even when I'm in the middle of things that  I've messed up, it's safe.
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I'm safe.

You're safe.

We're safe.

It's the only way to live. Jesus said life is far more than clothes and food, even more than our physical bodies.  And we can trust Him. You can't learn this on a Sunday School picnic. At least I wasn't chosen to learn it on a Sunday School picnic. Maybe you were.

But wherever you are, I hope you, too, are learning to trust Him, the One from Whom all blessings flow.

Review for BE THE PEOPLE By Carol M. Swain, PhD Clarion Call to American Roots

Carol M Swain, PhD is a black woman. She grew up in a shack in the south with no indoor plumbing. She is now a professor at Vanderbilt University, and professional speaker and activist. She has a voice worth listening to.

With compelling research, and a thorough knowledge of the scriptures, Ms. Swain urges Americans everywhere to become educated and active in fighting against the growing pollution of the original American ideal. Aligning her points with the biblical truth, she exposes the widening gap between our founding fathers’ vision of America, and our modern distortion of it.

She states, rather daringly, among other arguments, that African Americans are more well-to-do and educated in America than in any other country, and that, inexplicably, this is a direct result of the tragedy of slavery.

Believing we have not yet reached a point in our country where we are able to discourse comfortably about distressing behavioral trends across racial lines, by stating this she pushes open the door for even more discussion.

Complete with Appendices of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution, this book is an excellent resource for anyone who cares about America. Even a scathing liberal would do well to listen to this textbook black single mother, who knows whereof she speaks.

I have received a complimentary copy of WE THE PEOPLE from Thomas Nelson Publishers in return for my honest opinion.

The Alarmist Alarms in All the Right Places

The Alarmists

By Don Hoesel

Colonel Richards and his team at the Pentagon have discovered an alarming number of ‘coincidental’ occurrences around the world that threaten security in ways they can’t quite interpret. So they call in Dr. Brent Michaels, a professor of Psychology, as a consultant to help analyze the data as it relates to human behavior. It isn’t the first time he’s assisted the government, but this case appears to be more global than anyone realized. Someone is capitalizing on the 2012 ‘end of the world’ fears by escalating catastrophic events, but that someone is rich and powerful enough to keep his or her movements practically invisible.

Working alongside Captain Madigan, or ‘Maddy’ a pretty young woman of faith, causes Michaels to rethink his atheistic mindset. He also has ample opportunity to reflect on eternity when in the course of research the two are shot at, and Maddy is wounded.

Following the team from the Pentagon to Texas, Afghanistan, Antarctica, and the exotic and wild Eritrea near Ethiopia, one is aware of the truly global nature of the modern world, and the inherent dangers that creates. I can’t tell you the ending, but I really liked the way Hoesel presented everyday people with a compelling Christian faith. 

I don’t normally like books with blood red covers. But I liked this one. After all, it is a book about the end of the world. 

I received a copy of The Alarmists free from Bethany House Publishers in return for my honest opinion.

Perspective: Day 29 of the Count Your Blessings Challenge

In the years I've been a wife and mother, I've collected a lot of stories.

Some of these are good, with happy endings, and some are not so happy. I've known people who have lost children, lost mothers and fathers, made a fortune when a rich aunt died, lost everything, and just about everything in between.

The enduring sense I make of all these is that attitude counts. Period. No matter where you find yourself in life, if you can muster a positive, and grateful attitude, your story will in the end be successful. If you short-circuit the process with whining, and self-absorption, you will implode on yourself, and not only cause others pain, but create a life of loneliness.

Times are hard. Not as hard as they could be, but things are not exactly going swimmingly in most parts of the world. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic.

We owe it to ourselves and those around us to live for things that will last. To value honesty, integrity, kindness, gratitude, respect. Everyday brings a new opportunity to start over. Will we fail? Without question. But the blessing of having lived for 52 years has given me a broader perspective on the habits of the spirit that make a person attractive and successful. In other words, I've made mistakes,too. But I've also reaped the blessing of a grateful attitude. It's a gift you give yourself everyday.