What's for Lunch???

Like a lot of people over 30 these days, I’ve been trying to take better care of my physical body by exercising and eating more healthy foods. In doing so, I’ve been preparing my lunches at home and completing them while at work. This week, one of the things that I had for lunch each day is a nice Organic (Triple washed) Spring Mix accompanied by fresh cucumbers and strawberries. It always amazes me that whenever I’m cutting up my fresh fruit or vegetables, the aroma that is generated typically “commands” a response from those walking past the kitchenette. The typical response is “Hmmmm those strawberries smell SO good or Yummy…Those cucumbers smell so fresh!!!”

Today however as I was preparing my lunch I received a response that I have never received before. As I was in the midst of preparing my salad, one of my co-workers stopped in the hallway near the kitchenette and said with a dispirited sounding voice, “That looks really good and that would be good for me. Why can’t I do that? Why can’t I eat healthy?” I just smiled as she walked away, but in my mind I immediately thought, “You can…It’s just a choice and not a difficult one at that.”

I was immediately convicted. Life is full of choices and what occurs in the spiritual realm is mirrored in the natural realm. There are many choices that I have made in life that I knew were not good for me. I have wasted my time, my abilities and my financial resources. I knew the better or the best choice, yet I chose the wrong alternative and have often had a “pity-party” (in honor of myself), when I have seen others doing the things that I know I should be doing or making the same right choices that were available to me.

The “I can’t” mentality will always become a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, if not overcome with “I am” or the “I will” mentality that comes with knowing who God has empowered us to be through His purpose for our lives. It is a simple truth, but if you feed yourself a steady diet of “I can’t” three times a day, for snack and for dessert…guess what….YOU WON’T. You won’t be successful. You won’t have joy. You won’t love others. You won’t leave a legacy worth talking about.

There is an old country saying…’the farmer who wants more chickens, but eats all of his eggs will eventually run out of chickens and when he does he shouldn’t complain, for he has himself to blame” (this is not really a saying…I just made it up, but it is true J). If we know what we want and we know what is right, but we choose what is unrighteous and unwise, we have no right to blame God or others for our “sorry state”.

Your life will be remembered by those after you based on the choices that you make today. The seeds you plant (your choices) will result in the harvest you reap (your success or lack thereof). Galatians 6:7-8 says: “Don't be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he'll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God's Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life”

Your present state is based on your past and your current decisions in life, but there is hope. You can begin to make Godly choices at any moment. It’s on you. Stop saying “I can’t” and believe what God says in His Word that you are and what you are capable of doing and becoming.

What you choose to eat for lunch is up to you. Whether you exercise or not is up to you too, but don’t pull everyone around you into your “pity party” because you are upset with the way you “look” as a result of your choices. Take charge of your future with choices you make today.

What’s for “lunch”?

Be Blessed,

B