Substitution

My family is in full recovery mode after a month of Christmas celebration, which in short means we are coming off 31 days of all things chocolate. When you are cutting out sugar and carbs in an effort to convince your metabolism that you really do like it and want it to keep functioning - you start looking for substitutions for all the delicious foods you had been eating and are now missing. And here is where the problem lies.

For most foods there are suitable substitutes. But I am a sugar girl. I like sugar, I believe in sugar, I may campaign for sugar. You know the advertisements... Brought to you by the corn industry, beef industry, etc? I may launch my own personal promo for the virtues of sugar. And the top selling point is, there is no substitute.

Please do not say stevia. I have tasted it. If there is an aftertaste - it's not sugar.

And then there are the more natural substitutes, like applesauce. In brownies. No. Just no. You know how there is no crying in baseball? Well, there is no fruit in brownies. It violates laws - maybe not laws of nature - but certainly laws of chocolate.

While I have come to the startling realization that I like sugar entirely too much, I have also noticed some other things.
Like how much of my day I can fill with things that completely do not matter.

Right now our meal times are paired down to a minimalist state. The first few days of doing this, I was sad. Actually sad. Because I couldn't think about what I was going to eat or drink that day.

That got me wondering.. What if I didn't spend my days preoccupied by food? Or clothes? Or what my kids need? Or what my house needs? Not that there is anything wrong with thinking about and taking care of these things, but I'm telling you most of us have taken it too far.

If we really take an honest look at our lives, we spend our days worrying and working to provide ourselves and our families with what we need.  

We don't realize it, but somewhere along the way we substituted worry and activity and striving in place of reliance and trust in Jesus. What a tragic substitution!

We have been given the Prince of Peace, and we have traded Him in for control (or what we think we can control) of our destinies.

Word of the Day:
"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."   Matt. 6:31-33


Author: Brooke Kireta

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