Dieting

    With the New Year comes a rehashed resolution...probably something I've "put on THE LIST" every year since I was 12.  Lose some weight!  Lose LOTS of weight!  Become healthy and strong.  That's more important than wanting something cheesy, or "needing" some chocolate, right?  So...here we go again.  

     This time there is a difference.  I have guide...a book recommended to one of my sons by his doctor.  I have the support and company of my family.  They are all eating what I make available, and exercising to boot.  Everything I own that is a dairy product, all bread, all alcohol, all junk food, all refined sugar is now residing in the cold room we have in the basement.  I've included processed food as well (except for frozen fruits and vegetables.)  Could this be the year my resolution comes through?  I don't know, I surely hope so.  But all this change has brought about some thoughts about marriage.

     For over 20 years I've been cooking the same way.  Because of some physical problems, attempts at exercising have usually fallen flat after a few weeks, so my muscles hardly know what exertion means.  Now, overnight, (we started this on the 3rd of January), the cells in my body are completely bewildered...and letting me know about it.  My muscles hurt.  My appetite tells me the meal isn't complete without a piece of bread or cheese.  My brain seems consumed with the subject of food...no matter how I try to refocus on something else.  The sacrifices seem gargantuan.  By the end of the week I should be thin!

     Well...of course I'm not.  I should be overjoyed that I've lost 4 pounds in a week.  But I feel weary looking into the cheeseless abyss of my future, and my need to loose 20 times that amount.  (OK, cheese is allowed after the first 12 days, but I'm nervous about overdoing it since it's such a big part of my happiness.  ...and that's a confession if ever I heard one...)

   So it goes with marriage.  For over twenty years I've functioned more or less the same way.  It took me a long time to see that my "victim status" was helpful to neither my husband nor myself.  Only within the last few years have I realized that my role in the marriage is to do more than simply "react", but More must always be motivated by Godly love.  As I realize truths such as these, I want to see immediate results.  I want to be blissfully happy today, and not have to go through years of focused spiritual muscle building, eliptical praying, stair-master openness to the Will of God and calorie counting sacrifice.  I want to arrive without the journey. 

   But this journey is different.  I have a guide...a Book my parents taught me to read when I was a little girl, but is only now becoming a rich source of daily spiritual nutrition to me.  I have the support and company of a friend who wants to effect change in her own marriage...loosing the old junk food patterns of blame and gossip, and picking up the challenge to love with all the strength God gives us, even when there seems to be little or no reward.  If my "marriage joints and tendons" are sore, it's because I'm using them.  And the only way for them to stop hurting is for me to continue on, to never give up.  

   I should add that the diet, after the first 12 days, admonishes a complete rest every 7th day.  If I want a slice of chocolate cake, I can have one, with this exception:  I need to make each bite, a FIRST bite.  Truly appreciate what I'm enjoying!  So to with our marriages.  God grants us Sabbaths...and we need to recognize them and appreciate them when they come by simply enjoying our husbands and children and all the flavor they bring into our lives. 

     Challenge for today:  Make each event this day be a "first bite" of enjoyment, with every member of my family.  They are so very wonderful! (better than cake!)