I don’t do well when I try to straddle a fence in life. Might work for some people, not so much for me.
For me it’s just best that I pick a side, preferably the side I should be on, the side that is most productive, the side that pays dividends, then do my best to stay there.
I can share a few examples….
A couple of days ago I had some ice cream around lunch. It was the first thing I had eaten in almost three weeks that wasn’t a single ingredient whole food. It was fantastic!
Over the course of the day, with one foot squarely on the fun side of the fence, I ate half the quart container, even threw some toasted chocolate covered coconut thingys on top. I could have easily eaten it all.
Before you say it, I know I know…. “Everything in moderation”! I said that with the church lady voice in my head.
My response to that is this…. moderation is a slippery slope.
Sure, I ate far more than a day’s worth of ice cream but spread that out over three weeks and it was literally a bite a day, at best, which is not a problem if it happens every couple of weeks, might even be a good thing. The problem is….
Two days ago, it was ice cream. Yesterday afternoon, I had a couple of big fat doughnuts, and one of those big fat cookies that was sitting beside them.
Today, unlike the three weeks that went by prior, I am sure there will be a tug to eat more of the sweet things that I prefer not to eat, all because I momentarily stepped over the fence and into the wrong pasture.
Today will take more effort to stay on track, and life is already hard enough without the added temptation. Get behind me satan!
For me personally, diet (think lifestyle) is a big thing, for a host of reasons but mostly because I feel that health is the foundation of so much in life, especially as we become older. It’s hard to be productive and enjoy life when you are riddled with health “issues”.
You can add alcohol to the list as well. I have concluded that there is no health benefit whatsoever to alcohol. It ages you, it impairs you, it is a known carcinogen, it steals your mojo, etc and so on. Still, I’ll cross that fence from time to time but the older I get, the less and less it happens. It just doesn’t support my goals, so I stay out of that pasture.
Another big one for me is Faith…. The one foundation that can support and influence everything else.
You were waiting on that, right? It’s true though! A healthy body and a sober mind are great platforms to work from but Faith, Faith in God, through Christ…. is the absolute foundation of it all.
Faith is the one foundation that has the distinct ability to shape, mold and change literally EVERY other area of your life. (Read that twice)
I made the decision on January 1, 2017, that I would stop being a fence sitter on Sunday, stop letting church be a might make it might not event for me.
I stopped straddling the Faith fence, put both feet squarely on the “imma be there” side and then over the next three years, 157 Sundays in all… I missed once. It changed my life.
Eight years later, I am still there almost every Sunday because it absolutely works for me. Sure, I will miss occasionally but if I do, I get right back on track the next week.
Don’t let the world be your compass, think and act for yourself….
Do the important things in life in a manner that is going to give you the results that you need most. If moderation works best for you then great, lead a moderate life in those areas, but….
If you need to plant both feet on a certain side of a certain fence to keep your mind right and your life moving forward, for you and for those around you, then do it, don’t let anyone talk or influence you out of it and…. don’t apologize for it!
There are indeed certain aspects of my life that I am working on making better, there always will be but I’m over here fit, sober, and Faith filled while I’m working on them.
Get In The Boat. Do Your Part.
Protect The Important…. From Nose To Toes!
Shane / #16