The Seven Day Challenge...cravings

Today is Day Six of my Seven Day Challenge to stay away from wheat and sugar. I have to admit that yesterday I was feeling a little grey and listless but the weather may have had a little to do with that and also my hormones! I have been tracking my menstrual cycle for the last few months and trying to identify if it had anything to do with my mood swings. I certainly know that the way I eat affects my cycle and how good or poorly I feel when I have my period. Being almost 42 I know that hormonal changes are probably occurring or will occur in the next few years. I'm trying to pay more attention to my body and what I put in it. "Temple of the Holy Spirit" and all.


Ok, enough girl-y talk. To be honest, today I would really love to have something forbidden for breakfast! Toast, bagel, pancakes, etc. I do love my yogurt and I also enjoy eggs in many forms but just don't want to eat anything that is in my pantry at the moment.


Poor me.

At times like these I try to remember that I am so fortunate to have a choice about what I eat. The fact that we have enough income to buy an abundance of food is such a gift. I need to appreciate that gift and Give Thanks for it. I also have to remember that I often learn more from sacrifice and hardship (although I hesitate to call these cravings hardship) than I do from indulgence. I participated in a few sessions of a Catholic program called the Light Weigh a few years ago. While I don't agree with all of her tenents, I did glean quite a few nuggets from the program. The nugget I will follow this morning is to offer up my craving (and the fact that I'm not going to give in to it-the sacrifice part) as a prayer for someone or something. There is no shortage of needs in that area! I still have the prayer beads that were given out during the class for such a time as this! I have them in my pocket today.


I know that God is working on my heart and my mind. I've been pondering His Will for my life this morning. Many of you know that I gave up my good job (with our health benefits) this year to go back to school for my Montessori Certification. I can trace the circuitous path of my life and the crazy wanderings of my education, jobs, children, their education, husband, his gifts and talents, etc. all as a path to something else. I am beginning to have an inkling about what that something else may be but I also know that it is in God's timing, not my own. When I see how multiple philosophies in my life are coming together under one umbrella, so to speak, I know I'm on the correct path. 


So today I will remember that it is all a journey and that the journey is not always paved and level. But, like the hikes we take, the most beautiful overlooks are arrived at by some arduous climbs. I hope that you can take some time today to ponder your own journey, to see God's hand in it and to give yourself over to the wonder of it all.