Day 3: On living healthy and trusting God

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important that food and the body more important than clothes?   Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not much more valuable than they?  Matthew 6:25-26

     Here is the truth about me and food:  sometimes (often?) I turn to food for comfort or stress-relief.  I don't even really think about what I am doing.  I start to feel anxious about something (my health, my kids, the house we've been trying to sell for the last 4 years, money, etc) and suddenly I find myself eating a cookie (who are we kidding?  I mean a bag of cookies) or some chips or everything in the fridge.

     That's my downfall with food.  I actually eat very well during regular meal times.  I manage my portion sizes appropriately, I eat lots of veggies and other good-for-me things.  I don't fill up on sugary drinks.  If you talked to someone who watched my meal-time eating habits, they'd think I have no problems with food.

     It's the in between times that are a problem.  When I put my son down for a nap and start paying bills or talking to our Realtor    When I am irritated with my daughter's back talk.  When I feel frustrated at my son's slowness at potty training.  These are the times when I find myself craving the comfort of food.

     I have been greatly convicted of this lately.  Who should I go to for comfort?   Who should I turn to when I am irritated or frustrated or worried?  When I turn to that chocolate chip cookie, what am I saying?  Am I giving the cookie power over me?  Am I making that cookie into an idol?

    I have been studying 2 Corinthians lately and really had to stop and meditate over 7:1 "Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."  Do you know what promises Paul is referring to?  Look back at chapter 6: God has promised to live and walk among us, to be a Father to us and to make us His sons and daughters.

     If my children had a worry or a problem, would I want them to turn to some false comforter?  No, I would want them to come to me, to let me walk alongside them in their problems.  I would want to provide comfort and, hopefully, solutions to their problems.  That's what God wants from me.  So, rather than turn to food for temporary comfort, I am learning to turn to Him for eternal comfort.