Last week, I was teaching my kids how to learn to tell time. It’s a difficult task to teach time to children, and it’s even more difficult to teach it to children who don’t speak the same language as you and only understand a third of what you are saying. Yeah, not easy.
The best thing I could think of was to draw a time line on the board. We started with the simple phrase “wake up,” to discuss morning. To teach afternoon, we began speaking about lunch and my instincts decided it was a good idea to point to my stomach and yell “GET IN MY BELLLY!” At first the kids looked at me like I was crazy (a look I often get), but soon they all started mocking my behavior and began pointing to their stomachs and yelling as well. It was a sight to see for sure.
This past Thursday, I met with some ladies for a bible study I’ve started to lead. The study is for women who are also struggling with weight and or body image issues. As I prepared for our first meeting, I laughed out loud thinking about my recent experience with my kids. In our study, we are going through a book I’ve mentioned in my blog before called Made To Crave. Lysa TerKeurst argues that God intended for us to crave. She explains how God designed us to crave but instead of craving more of Him, sometimes we crave other things like food, intimacy, drugs, alcohol, etc.
As I’ve read through her book, the words “We crave what we consume,” have been circling around in my mind. I know many of you reading this don’t struggle with weight but stay with me, I promise this blog is applicable to you as well.
I have had my fair share of cutting things out. No sugar, no fast food, no eating after 7pm, all in an attempt to lose weight. But one thing is true each time, whenever I am not eating something specific, like chocolate or fast food, my body, once rid of whatever I was previously consuming, no longer craves it. It’s interesting how that works.
BUT, the first time I eat a piece of cake or a tiny Hershey’s kiss after I’ve gone so long without sugar, suddenly, my body wants and desires more.
Lysa talks about how the same thing applies to our spiritual life. She calls it spiritual malnutrition. For example, if you aren’t reading your bible daily, if it isn’t part of your daily routine, you may not even think twice about pulling it out to read it in the morning before you go to work. But when you do pull it out and dig in, the Holy Spirit will speak to you and you will begin to want more.
My prayer is that anyone reading this who is suffering from spiritual malnutrition will pray asking the Lord to give you a desire to crave more of Him. I pray that you will always be hungry for what His word has to offer. It is good, so good and I hope you will dig in and take a taste. After all, it’s the one thing you can eat and eat and eat that won’t cause you to get fat! So, eat it up y’all!
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.
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