Welcome! Boy!—This one can be a hard one to tackle! I will use myself as the example—actually the poem is my own real life experience! Weight to the physical body operates very much in the same manner that it does to the spiritual man. So many can testify of how they can start a strict diet and do very well. Then it can all be rendered null and void with just one deviation. It’s justified away with the thinking that they have been so good that they reward themselves (with bad behavior!). Time and effort spent in the discipline of abstinence is negated and canceled out with one indulgence. Just making that one exception for something that’s forbidden can lead to a repeated allowance for it. The gradual increase in gaining the weight again is reluctantly accepted with the rationalization that it’s still not as much as before. Then discouragement sets in with the feeling of ‘what’s the use?’ Sooner or later, it eventually results in a return to a pattern of poor & uncontrolled eating habits and weighing the same as before, if not more. Also, the mentality regarding weight is identical. Often the desire is not there for the discipline required to do what it takes to be fit. Individuals want to maintain the same unhealthy eating habits and lackadaisical exercise regimen and yet lose unwanted weight and unsightly pounds. Some people don’t want to move but would like to be able to move (just in case they decided to move). The appetite goes unchanged and unchecked while a desperate search ensues for the miracle pill to melt away years of neglect. Some will seek to do as little as possible, and if possible, even less to obtain on a large scale a measure of sweet success. So it is in the spiritual. If we are not careful, we will indulge in flesh-pleasing activities that weigh us down and then start looking for a miracle and expecting the impossible! Oh yes, God can do anything but prayer is for what we can’t do and obedience is for what we can do. Some things only come off by prayer and fasting! What good would it be for God to make us slim and trim so we can immediately return to being un-pleasingly plump again? So— Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1 Be blessed by this poetic confession (mine) that’s allegedly good for the soul!
I know that from experience it takes no time at all,
In fact, a few brief moments just to eat what seems so small;
And then with so few ounces of the dainties that I ate;
I add so much more to myself in useless pounds of weight.
The time spent using discipline is totally negated;
And complications then arise to which it's all related.
The time of short-term leisure soon brings on long-lived regrets;
Because it's an ongoing weight that easily besets.
It makes things I did naturally most difficult to do;
And makes it near impossible to try and make it through.
It makes a race I used to win unbearable to run;
I find myself just giving up before it has begun.
Then when it comes to exercise, the weight just makes me slow;
The reason that I need to move keeps me from doing so.
The weight, with little eating, that I easily put on,
Required much more dieting for me to have it gone.
So, what is not expedient is best avoided for--
That small ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure!
Let's exercise discretion, wisdom, caution and control;
Concerning our intake for the digestion of the soul.
May we be "firm believers" keeping up a steady pace;
And patiently complete our course for a successful race.
Be much encouraged!
Pam
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