While sitting here, bloated from the Christmas feasting, though I'm not sure I feasted. I had no sugar, flour or wheat and turned down the immense temptation to order a pecan waffle at Waffle House. But I did have popcorn (non-GMO, of course) a few times and some amazing (real) french fries at Hudsons BBQ. At our family Christmas dinner, complete with roast beast (Jon's smoked brisket) and everything but the kitchen sink, sweet little ginger Addison piped up: "Yaya can't have sugar because she's already had too much!" I love the astute observations of children. We should all hark back to our youths and be so honest. That got me to thinking about the subject of sowing and reaping. There are so many things written and spoken about it, but I've never been so aware of the ramifications of it until my bones began to ache like the dickens in recent months. The doctor says it's rheumatoid arthritis, although my bloodwork doesn't tell that tale; the naturopath says it's from all the years of toxins that got released when I lost a bucketload of weight. It's the latter opinion that made me think about the sowing...
We all sow things, good or bad, especially in our youth. Some are noble causes, but often, we leap to sow to our spring-fed flesh. There are a lot of roads to go down when we're young, and we usually don't realize it's a road until it's too late. You can't really back up, because time doesn't behave like that. You can full-stop and reverse, but you're actually going to take a different road, not traverse from the original one. This can, in truth, be a very good thing. The mistakes and sins I've made often and usually inform my future choices. The broken road can light our path to the right one. Without regret, I can see that God leads us when we lay down in the dust of repentance, usually when we've fallen deep into the wagon wheel ruts of life.
I love the Scriptures where they talk about Joseph. Remember him? He's the guy who was sold into slavery by his delightful brothers, then went from bad to worse, from rich to poor, then back again. He ended up ruling right under Pharoah in Egypt, eventually saving his bratty brothers who'd been lying about his supposed death to their distraught father for decades. What did he say to his family, who crouched in fear when the truth was revealed? "What Satan meant for evil, God meant for good." That is the grace of God, where what appears to be the worst is actually His purposes moving forward. A prime example of when evil was sown to the wind, and God redeemed a people anyway. He does that. I'm really grateful that I don't actually get what I deserve...
Meanwhile, the new year yawns before us. After the two behind us, we're really ready to shed some roads. When the gym opens after January 1, it will be full of new converts. The diet plans and programs will make enough in a month or two to scoot by until the next year. I've tried all those resolutions - sometimes they work and mostly they don't. What I actually can do is walk better: By laying down my devices more; Stop and listen, instead of waiting for the other person to quit talking. Wake up and say, "God, I can't do this, but You can." Especially, do the next thing. My Daddy had a little sign on his workbench, and because I have his DNA deeply imprinted on my soul (which includes ADOS - "Attention Deficit, Ooooh Shiny!"), I should heed the same admonition. It says, and this was before Nike: "Just Do It." As I rise to get the dog out the door for her walk, I say, "Yes, Lord."
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