on water & candy corn:

i do not drink enough water. 

i snack a lot while making dinner each night...this becomes a problem when i’m supposed to enter everything into “my fitness pal”...

there’s a slight possibility that i am seriously addicted to sugar. 

i’m tremendously grateful that black coffee is low cal. 

these are just a few of the things i’m discovering about myself during our Wholly Fit series at church.

but the biggest revelations i’ve had so far: 

1. i soooo lack self-discipline.

followed closely by:

2. discipline makes me grumpy.*

*even after typing this, i need to close the lid of the computer and walk away for a bit. because i will only blog if i want to blog...not because i have to blog....

ok, i’m back...

i know that some of you might want to be gracious and allow me the whole “she’s a musician, therefore she must be somewhat disciplined” easy out...but frankly, most musicians that i know are musicians because they like to practice. in fact, give us a whole slew of options of how to spend our time and we’ll probably pick practicing above all others. 

real discipline for musicians involves being places on time, showering before 1pm and adapting to systems of order that require more than just keeping all our band charts in a big pile somewhere...

and here’s where the daily diet comes in. 

suddenly i need to be responsible and disciplined when it comes to snacking. my little calorie-counting app is supposed to be a helpful tool and instead i feel like it’s Big Brother breathing down my neck...

“uh-uh-uh, ashley...are you going to enter in that handful of candy corn you just ate?” 

or how about when i was cooking dinner last night?

“uh-uh-uh, ashley...you know if you eat a handful of the corn chips before they go into the taco salad, they still count and you’ll have to enter in 2 servings into the app.” 

this makes me grumpy.

i want to eat excessive amounts of candy corn throughout the day. 

i want to eat the extra chips 7 minutes prior to our actual dinner time. 

and in my grumpiness, i’ll complain to anyone who will listen. russell will get random, whiney texts from me about my addiction to white sugars and my aversion to drinking water. i’ll complain to H.G. that my pencil skirts had better fit more loosely at the end of the next 7 weeks or else i’m gonna be ticked...

so yesterday i sit down to read the words my God has prepared for me and He says in matthew 11:28 to simply “come to Me..”.... and it seems so silly. 

it seems ridiculous to ask God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, to help me snack less and yet...it’s kinda a good idea...why didn’t i start there? 

we’re told in matt 7:7 to “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”

ok. i can do that. 

so today, i’m praying for discernment to chose the right foods that will fuel my body in a healthy way. i’m praying that i can take better care of this body that was made in my God’s image as a way to worship Him. i’m praying for strength to say “no” to massive handfuls of candy corn. and above all, i’m praying to surrender my will to what He wants for my life, instead of what i want....so that whether i eat or drink, or teach or sing, or drive or even think, i do it all, in a way that pleases Him.