Whole30 Day 8

As I walked out of the teachers' lounge after heating up my Whole30 lunch, I glanced up at the vending machine. Honey buns, chips, cookies, candy bars. All calling out to me. Where have you been, Carol? Why aren't you buying us the way you used to. Sigh.

I've heard that there is no such thing as junk food. There's junk. And there's food. Period. Wow. That really hit me.

This is my second run through the Whole30, but it's still hard. I still crave sweets, and bread, and dairy. Everything I'm supposed to be staying away from during these 30 days.

I feel better. I have more energy. My clothes are looser. I know I'm healthier. Why do I still want the stuff that's bad for me?

Story of my life. Battle of my life. Why do I eat what I eat? The things I know I should eat, those I do not eat. The things I know I shouldn't eat- that's what I eat. Sigh. (Carol's version of Romans 7)

It tastes sooooo good. That's why. Or is it? Am I just used to junk? Hmmmm...

So I was thinking about spiritual junk. How much of that have I put into my body- my soul? Why?

It has such a good story.

It has a really good beat to it.

It's so much fun!

Look at those muscles!

He's so cute!

It has such a good love story in it.

All my friends are watching it, listening to it, reading it, doing it.

Blah, blah, blah. Yeah.

I started filtering junk out of my life years ago. I would ask myself, "Is this bringing me closer to God?" "Will my life be more of what God wants it to be because of this activity?" "Will my life really be so bad without this?"

You may laugh, but I've never seen the movies "Dirty Dancing" or "Footloose" because of this. It may seem silly, but as a teenager, it was a big deal for me. I'm fairly certain that my life isn't less meaningful because of missing out on these. I'm not trying to pick on these two movies. I'm just giving an example.

Have I seen and done things I shouldn't have? Plenty. Ugh. I think it's even harder as an adult. No one checks IDs. No one questions me. It's me and God. It's up to me what spiritual food I eat.

Now I'm trying to train my children to be careful what they put in their souls. When they were little, I controlled everything that went into their brains. Now that they are older, they are making their own choices. Part of that is to see what else is out there. Especially with movies and music.

I had to learn in my own time. God, please give me patience as I wait for them to learn in their own times.

Over the years, the more I got used to spiritually only putting in "the good stuff" I learned to not want the "junk" as much. Not that I've got it all down perfectly, but for the most part now, when I hear or see "junk" I tend to cringe. I just don't like being around it.

Sigh. Now I need to get that way with physical food.