Have you ever notice that once you get it together in one area of your life especially one that you have been struggling with, other areas begin to fall into place? Well, I have. There is a definite connection between my eating, spending, exercising, and devotional life. When all 4 are in place, I am functioning at maximum efficiency, at the top of my game. I feel like Pinky and the Brain--give me a little space and time and I could take over the world! But when I go down that slippery slope of laziness or poor prioritizing, they all fall off--lack of exercise allows me to eat a little more which usually involves unplanned meals and take out, which means take out and restaurants, which means higher calorie intakes and without exercise, weight gain. It also means higher food costs and a dent in the budget and if it is not put in check, I'm buying an outfit here and there to hide the bulge. Or how about burning the candle at both ends so I have poor, sloppy, or hit and run devotions. When this happens I notice I eat more. It's like my spirit is craving sustenance: word, worship, prayer, journalling, and it is not getting enough so I'm hungry. And what do I do when I am hungry, EAT! I feed the wrong thing. It's ugly, people, ugly.
I've heard it said the human beings are created with 2 empty spaces: hearts/spirits and stomachs (maybe we can add heads, too but I need to think through that one before I write on it... :-) and so often the heart is hungry but we feed our stomachs instead. So I am going to take the opportunity during the Daniel Fast to focus on feeding the hunger in my spirit first and my stomach second. I admit--I am a FOODIE!!! I often live to eat. For 21 days, I will eat to live and satisfy my spiritual cravings for God. And since discipline is transferable, I am going to restart my gym habit and keep a log of everything I spend. Based on what I know about me and the how my eating, exercising, spending, and spiritual disciplines are connected, I might as well maximize the moment and move theses areas of my life in the same disciplined direction while I've got some momentum going.
What areas of your life are connected? How can you maximize this moment in your life through this fast? I'm a little nervous about this 21 day journey but excited. I am expecting great things!
I concur Rev. St.Clair...
ReplyDelete...There are some areas in my life that I am doing well in and others that are in total disarray. What I appreciate most about fasting is that it makes your body and mind to come into agreement with the spirit. In addition, it presents a wonderful opportunity to settle spiritual as well as physical and environmental matters. Often time, at least for me, my mind, body, and spirit are not one accord. A good example of this occurs first thing in the morning. from the moment I open my eyes, my spirit is praying and praising unto the Lord but my mind is still in sleep mode and therefore, I don't even open my mouth to say what I am thinking neither do I get out of the bed to stand in the presence of the Lord. Within a few minutes of me entering into his gates with thanksgiving and unto His courts with praise, I fall right back to sleep. It ain't right but it the truth...
On the eve of the Daniel Fast, I began to consider prime areas of my life that need to be brought under submission to the spirit of God. I have outlined for myself several outcomes I hope will be accomplished in my life at the end of 21 days. These outcomes include:
1. Improved morning devotional time (no more praying on the pillow under the covers)
2. increased service and responsiveness (within ministry as well as in the work place)
3. To become financially savvy (keeping God first in all financial matters and making wise choices in regards to other financial matters.)
4. To have my OATS daily with God, the body of Christ, and the general public. OATS is an acronym which stands for:
Openness
Accountability
Transparency
Sensitivity
I hope i will become enveloped and seared with the presence of God (I want God's presence to be a fire within and around me to burn away the dross and all that wrong and purify what is good so that his Glory can seen clearly) This is my prayer...
Thank you for the posts on Discipline
ReplyDeleteDiscipline is Transferable is a very accurate depiction of what I hope to achieve even beyond the 21 days. I am looking for a life-style transformation within my mind, my body and my soul.
They say that anything that is done for 21 days consistently becomes a habit. I can truly say that shopping and eating have become a HABIT. I am praying for a different type of habit in my life. Not only with what I eat but what I feed my mind, and my soul as well. I too have become very lazy and lax in my prayer life, you know performing the "on the run prayers" on some days, the "bedside" prayer on other days and my favorite while working out on the bike or elliptical - "Lord just get me through this workout, PLEAZZZZE".
One thing I can say is that I am not a fast food/take out eater but give me some Sun Chips or some freshly baked bread and I am off to the races.
I have the nerve to be a "PICKY FOODIE" and will consume loads of what I like to eat because I think I earned it after all, I worked out today - that is just WRONG. I just gorged down all the calories I burned off earlier in the day.
I mentioned in another blog that I have been detoxifying my body for the past 3 weeks so I am looking forward to the changes that the Daniel Fast has to offer and when we come to the 21st day the official end of the fast, I will look forward to taking the things that I have learned, the spirit that has been fed, the body that has been reshaped, the heart that has been filled and the knowledge that I need to be all the God created me to be.
I am so excited about getting my body & spirit in proper alignment. I agree also, when I clean up my house, refrigerator and body, spend time in devotion, dancing my prayers - everything seems to fall into place. So, I am looking forward to the journey for the next 21 days. I'm looking forward to developing new eating habits that will stay with me beyond the 21 days. I'm excited about the increased energy & focus that I'm going to experience. Most of all I'm expecting to encounter God in ways like never before. I expect radical breakthrough and for that I must do something radical. For me, giving up meat, dairy, sweets is really radical but it is not nearly as big as the sacrifice Christ made for me. I've already prepared our lunch for tomorrow. I'll be up early to dance my prayers and then prepare our breakfast and will make sure I eat dinner before coming to bible study. Its going to be a great 21 days. Pray for my husband as he just realized he can't have bread and he is quite upset but he'll be alright.
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