#2 - I just can't get enough

The Seven Deadly Sins

Sin #2

Gluttony

I was a latchkey kid. I haven't heard the term in a decade or more, so some of you youngin's may not be familiar. Being a latchkey kid meant that from age 7 or so, I would walk home from school, remove a key from a "hiding place in our front yard" and let myself in the house. Once inside, I could not answer the door, answer the phone or watch TV. I was also very limited on what I could eat. From the time I was a toddler I was not allowed artificial colors, sugar, dyes, you name it - all in an attempt to control my "hyperactivity." In a way I was honored to be trusted with the responsibility of being left alone.

My mother was a fan of ice cream sandwiches. One day I decided to have one myself and removed it from the box, peeled off the thin paper surrounding it and took my first bite of that cool treat. I was enchanted. I was so enchanted I had another, then another, and another - until I had eaten all but one. I looked at the box - the lone sandwich lying on its side knowing mom was going to kill me when she found out. Still, I reached in and took the last one. It was as though I could not control myself. Regardless of the consequences, I was going to have what I wanted.

And I look around and I see it everywhere today. Americans deciding "to hell with it all, I'm having it my way" and eating themselves into the health care system.

We have a parent (GOD) who loves us, and wants us to be healthy- providing good things to eat and the knowledge necessary to be healthy - but also giving us the responsibility to look after ourselves. If we choose to eat the whole box of ice cream sandwiches - or super size ourselves - He won't stop us. But it isn't what is best. It isn't what is good.

If we allow ourselves to become sick as a result, we risk not being able to work.

He who does not work, does not eat.

That should motivate you.