Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: CANDY (04/28/16)
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TITLE: Where is My Candy? | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sylvia Young
05/05/16 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“Where is my candy?” my children cry.
“I guess you ate it,” I lie to them. I LIE to my children? About candy? What kind of mother am I?
Year after year, the scene is repeated. Year after year, my shame lies about me in the form of empty wrappers, strewn around my desktop late at night after my offspring sleep in their beds. What is this temptation that causes me to steal from and lie to my most precious children?
I could probably recall some memory from my childhood about being in want or being denied sweets, but I know that I alone am responsible for this folly. Sugar is my vice, my captor, and I have not tried to liberate myself. Instead, I lie in my cell, a contented, bloated prisoner.
And yet...not content.
Guilt overwhelms me. The price I pay goes beyond the sad faces of my children to the ever-tightening waistband of my jeans as November and December approach, and the illicit candy disappears.
At first, there are excuses. This one is allergic to peanuts, so I should eat those pieces. The other one dislikes coconut, so those vanish down my gullet as well. The little one can’t eat so much candy, so I'm being a good mother to her. Right? Right?
And then, there is justification. I deserve this. This much candy is not good for them. Child obesity is on the rise. I'm actually doing them a favor!
Sigh, the excuses I make… Well, no more.
The candy is only one symbol of my lack of self-control. It’s a temporary happiness that I have no desire to analyze, but I must. My conscience and children, not to mention my scale, tell me so.
Food for the body is meant to be nourishing, satisfying and life-giving. It should be from the four food groups in balance, and yet everything in moderation? So why does my body crave what is not good for it? Is it merely a reflection of my sinful nature? Why do humans always want what they should not have?
If I live by the Spirit, if I have been crucified with Christ, then shouldn't resistance come easily? No. The Bible doesn't promise easy. Temptation continues to plague me, despite my desire to do what is right. Why do I do thing things I don’t want t do? Why don’t I do the things I want to do? The apostle Paul surely understood human nature!
I cannot do it on my own. It is only Christ in me that can overcome this nature. So, one day at a time, I will give it over to him. If I slip up occasionally, I will forgive myself as I seek forgiveness. I am human. I daily fall short of the glory of God, but He does not abandon me. He is my Refuge and my Strength. In Him, I will find the power to resist temptation and never again hear the accusations of my children fly,
“Where is my candy?!?”
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Great job with this!
Blessings~
I'll pray that God will give you the strength to resist. Thanks for sharing.
I, too, have a sweet tooth and lack of self control at around 8:00pm. I have been known to eat icing right out of the can.
On another note, I would space in between paragraphs just for ease of reading.
Great job and getting your main point across, we need Christ in all areas of our life.
God Bless