Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day or daily bread.... CARBS!!! NOOOOOOO!!! delete delete delete.....
Give us this day our daily protein shake with Greek yogurt, kale, and flax seed.... Much better.
Forgive us for our
As we forgive those who sin against us... Like that awesome baker in accounting who is always bringing in the cookies and trying to sabotage everyone's diet...
Lead us not into temptation.... PAUSE -- Let's take a moment, shall we?
Perhaps this should read, "Blind our eyes to all the things we really want to eat but shouldn't," or, "Make all the unhealthy things disappear!"
I know I'm making light of it all, but temptation is a huge part of our lives. Be it a diet, an ethical situation, gambling, or in the game of love, temptation is all around us. In a recent conversation with a friend I said, "God is testing us." The reply was one that really made me stop and think, "We are testing ourselves while God watches" (or something to that effect).
Think on that for a moment....
WHO is really leading us into temptation? This isn't a Christian blog, per se, but I am a Christian, and therefore tend to put a Christian spin on things. The answer that jumps out at any Christian who was raised in a God fearing Baptist church, such as myself, is SATAN! The Devil, or perhaps one of his minions, is TEMPTING me! But what if WE are his minions... without realizing.
My biggest temptation are cookies. I LOVE COOKIES! Before I had kids, it was easy to diet. I would simply keep cookies out of my home, then.... no temptation. Now, I have kids. Cookies in the home are a staple. When grocery shopping, we must go down the cookie aisle. My husband and I are doing this together, and we decided that the simple answer is to buy cookies that the kids like, but we do not. That's right, avoid the sugar cookies, fudge stripes and the chocolate dipped graham crackers. Replace them with the generic Oreos and iced oatmeal cookies. That will do the trick.
The best way to avoid temptation is to remove it from your senses. Unfortunately, we are human. We much prefer to throw caution to the wind and place ourselves directly in the cookie aisle, don't we? We set boundaries and draw lines that we simply love to dance on.
"I can go down the cookie aisle and simply SMELL all the deliciousness and then, I'll be ok. I won't have to have one!" Dancing on the line.
The problem with dancing on that line is that the line tends to move around. Soon we will say:
"I'm not a fan of generic Oreos, but a little taste will certainly satisfy my craving...." The line has moved, and now, we are dancing on another one.
How many times can that line move before we are back to the cookie aisle buying every single soft baked peanut butter with chocolate chips dipped in caramel and smothered in chocolate pieces of addictive deliciousness????
If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off... does that mean that if your mouth causes you to get fat, you should sew it shut?
Temptation is tricky. Logic would say that the best way to eliminate the temptation is to eliminate the source. Stop going down the cookie aisle.... but then, the children suffer. Face it, deep down, we REALLLLY want to be in that cookie aisle and as we pick up our generic oreos.... we secretly (or not so secretly) desire our sugar cookies... just one more taste, as if we have forgotten how good they are.
So we pray.... Lead us not into Temptation.... because we are already driving ourselves down the temptation expressway and we can't seem to find the exit.
The problem is not the temptation, but the guilt that follows our cookie transgressions. We step on the scale and realize that we've gained another pound. A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. We need to weigh the consequences of our temptations before (or as...) we dance on that line. Before that line moves, we must consider the outcome of our actions. As wonderfully delicious that cookie tastes, the flavor lasts for only a few fleeting moments, but the damage done is harder to erase. In a world where we are encouraged to live for the moment... the consequences can be easy to ignore, until it is too late.
and so we pray...
Deliver us from Evil... or cookies... you know, whatever.
For yours is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the GLORY forever.
Amen.
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