Add in one good thing …

Years ago, my dear friend Joe Adams gave me some great advice re: disciplines / health goals, etc.

I was trying to cut back on my soda consumption. (Yes, yes, I know how HORRIBLE soda is. Truly. But it’s still hard for me to give up.) And he encouraged me to NOT think of it as “giving up soda,” but instead to have a nice big glass of cold water (from a GLASS glass, not something plastic because glass makes it taste so much better) BEFORE I have a soda. Because just by adding in something good, my desire of something less health/redemptive would lessen.

And he was right.

Plus, it doesn’t feel like such a “discipline” or burden or sacrifice to ADD IN something good. (But “giving up” can be so hard.) Here are some other examples from my recent days:

– I (finally!) started walking Lilikoi in the mornings again. Yes, it’s hard to bundle up and get out the door, but once I’m out in the fresh air with my Golden Retriever at my side? I’m so happy. AND, the closed-in-walls of a life only inside isn’t as attractive to me any more.

– Whenever I go too long without regular devotional time in the Word and study time in the Word, it can be a discipline to get back into the groove as it were. But once I do? My heart and my mind quicken and I think to myself, “WHY did I not do this every day?! Thank You, God, for Your Written Word!”

– One orange BEFORE I eat that piece of candy? And suddenly I don’t crave the candy as much any more.

I could go on and on, but I hear a baby stirring so I need to scoot.

Thanks for the great advice, Joe! I’m praying that today will be a day of adding in one good thing (and then another and then another).

Blessings!
— Tara B.