Hey There! I’ve missed you, but don’t
take it personal- I have missed out on quite a bit lately.
We have had an exciting transition
over here and an especially busy season of church involvement to go with
it. So, life has been crazy and I have
not had time for lots of things. Aside
from not writing any blog posts, I have also not seen the three new episodes of
my favorite television show, I am behind on my reading schedule, AND I have gone out to eat more
in the last two weeks than I typically would in two months (out of rhythm). If you have read a few posts on here you
know, food is a heart issue for me.
Meaning, I have realized that my diet is directly tied to my
relationship with God. I am constantly
battling to have a healthy relationship with food- not allowing food to become
an idol, exercising contentment, and not placing my hope in food by expecting
it to make my bad days good.
For some people, food is just food. I realize that this is not a heart issue for
everyone, but I am confident that I am not “over-spiritualizing” this. Repeatedly throughout scripture, food plays
an integral part of the story. God freed
the Israelites out of slavery, parted the Red Sea, gave them food and water in
the middle of a desert, and was present with them day and night. They were daily experiencing the goodness,
blessing, and provision of God and do you know what their response was? They complained about the menu! They didn’t want just food- they wanted fruits and vegetables and MEAT! They even went so far as to say that they
were better off as slaves, because at least then, they ate well (Numbers
11:4-6). This story tells me that food
was a heart issue for several thousand Israelites and I am not alone.
The one thing that set Daniel and
his friends apart from all of the other young studs in training was what they
ate. The rest of the group was delighted
to enjoy the many foods offered from the King’s table, but Daniel and company
chose to stay within the dietary guidelines given in the word of God (Daniel 1:8-16). For Daniel, food was not just food.
I am thankful that God has not
called me to a Daniel fast, but I do know that he has called me to “Eat like a
Champion.” For me, that means eating and
drinking the things that I know my body responds well to, and putting severe
restrictions on or completely abstaining from the things that I know cause my
body to underperform. The dreams are too
big and the goals are too high for me to sabotage productivity by filling my
body with things that leave me feeling like crap the next day.
Here of late, I have not been
eating like a champion. Initially, the
eating exceptions were all about celebrating the transition. But it quickly became- “I don’t have time to
go the store” and “I don’t have time to cook.”
I kept finding myself in the place of- eat something that I know does
not meet the standards I have set OR skip the meal all together. Not eating well caused me to be irritable and
cranky. In the midst of the high
demands, I should have been working to take the best possible care of my body,
but instead I was crippling my own emotional fortitude. The diet, the stress, the demands, the
transition- all created a snowball effect that nearly wiped me out like an
avalanche.
Then, I came before God in prayer
believing that I had a pass for not eating well because I had been so busy
investing in The Kingdom. Not only did I not receive a pass, I ended up with a
bonus conviction! I realized that if I was doing life too hard
to eat well, then I was simply doing life TOO hard. Time together in the kitchen is a healthy
rhythm of our household that I had thrown to the wayside. Not only is it not okay to let my circumstances
dictate my diet, I need to do a better
job of setting boundaries for myself and my family. I need to give higher priority to the
structure and routine of my household.
It is my responsibility to make sure that I am living a balanced life.
I believe most households have some
established healthy rhythms that encourage togetherness. In our house, cooking together and sitting at
the table for dinner is one of our healthy rhythms. In your house, it may be regular board game
nights, family devotionals, outdoor activities, or Saturday morning donuts.
Think about the healthy rhythms of
your household- things you do together or have done together in the past on a
regular basis. You may notice that the
activity can be almost anything, what makes it special is that you do it
together. I want to encourage you to be more intentional about guarding those
rhythms. Be willing to adapt those
rhythms as your kids grow and interests develop. Pay attention to when those rhythms are
getting lost in the busyness of life and use them as a metric to help you
monitor whether or not you have allowed your family to be too busy.
Rhythms give us all a sense of
stability. When we lose those rhythms,
the natural consequence is that we become less emotionally stable. What are some of the healthy rhythms of your
household? Do remember any healthy
rhythms from when you were a kid? Any
tips for parents on how to keep teens and preteens interested in doing things
together as a family? I would love to
hear from you and other readers may benefit if you would like to share about
your family’s healthy rhythms in the comments.
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