My God, My Sweets

I have this problem, I am sorry to say.

I love to eat.

Not only do I love to eat, but I love to eat things that are not good for me.

It’s a problem.

I have another problem.

Today, my housemate Lauren and I were talking about what we should give up for Lent and I said, “Well, I mean, I want it to be a challenge, but I just can’t give up sweets, cheese, meat, caffeine, or technology.” Wow, talk about a comprehensive list.You can see how much it's worth to me.

And then I realized how much I rely on these things. Especially sweets- instead of God. It’s actually a really weird thing to say… that I rely on sweets over God, but I’m being totally serious.

When I’ve had a bad day, I rely on sweets to make me feel better. I mean, girls, I know you agree, there’s nothing better than crying over a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

When I’ve had a good day, I rely on sweets for celebration. Again, nothing better than going out for some chocolate cake to celebrate a good day.

When I’m bored, I rely on sweets. I sit there, thinking about nothing, I’m not even hungry, yet I grab my little bag of brownie bites.

Seriously, it’s a problem.

And as I walked through Ash Wednesday as just another average day, I told myself, “I’m just no good at this Lent thing. So, maybe I just won’t do it, I mean, I don’t do it every year, it’s fine.” But there was just something nudging me inside. Don’t you hate that? I mean, it’s like the Holy Spirit is trying to talk to me or something… oh wait.

So, I did a little bit of research to try and find the deeper meaning for why I should give up something for Lent. Millions of Christians around the world do it, so maybe there’s something to this whole thing that I’m missing.

I found that Lent is a time of prayer and fasting- a time to meditate on what God gave up for us. When I say I want to give up sweets, it’s not so that I can work on losing weight and eating healthier. It’s a representation of what God gave up. Obviously my love for sweets comes nothing close to God’s love for Jesus, but throughout these 40 days (I know it’s 46 days until Easter, but Sundays don’t count!) every time I am craving some sweets, that’s when I need to switch my focus.

When I’ve had a bad day and all I want is to cry over a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, that is when I need to meditate on what God gave up for me. You know, my bad day just won’t seem that bad after all. I don’t need sweets to make me feel better, I need Jesus.

When I’ve had a good day and all I want is to celebrate over some chocolate cake, that is when I need to meditate on what God gave up for me. Suddenly, my day has gotten even better when I remember God’s grace. I don’t need sweets to celebrate, I need Jesus.

When I’m bored and all I want is to grab my little bag of brownie bites to give me something to do, I need to meditate on what God gave up for me and suddenly, I think I’ll want to do something a little more meaningful with my time. I don’t need sweets to give me meaning, I need Jesus.

As most of you know, my love for sweets is above and beyond. It’s an extreme addiction. I think this will be a challenge for me. (Luckily, I can still eat sweets on Sundays, so at least I won’t be risking mental depression… haha just kidding… maybe). But I am determined to stay committed to this until Easter and to help me focus on what is really important. I give up sweets because God gave up so much for me. This is literally the bare minimum of what I can do to help remind me of how blessed we are to have such a wonderful and loving God who chose a beautiful redemptive plan for us.