October 9, 2012 - Judge Well

Good morning to you all, Love the fall! The cooler temps and beautiful colors bring such a smile to my face. I also love the apples in abundance. However, my favorites are not as yummy and are hard to find this year. pink crisps. I found them last week in Portland and they were YUMMY - sweet and very crisp. The ones I bought here Friday evening had very little taste. UGH! But I ate them anyway because they help keep my cholesterol down. One study reports that one apple daily can reduce your overall cholesterol score by 20 points. That's a lot. One of my devotionals this morning focused on judging. Now for Ezekiel, God was asking him to evaluate and discern. The word judgment can be used in a couple of ways. God allowed him to see CLEARLY the situation in order to bring a word of correction and wisdom to the people. I thought about how as a family of healthy trend setters (THAT'S WHAT WE ARE), we are sharpening our skills to discern whether foods are supportive of our plan or not - whether people are going to support or lead us into temptation. :) We really need to clearly evaluate all "new" food items; reading carefully each of the ingredients - then judge wisely. Yes or no? Thanks, Linda, for having your phone ready to look up words we couldn't pronounce on Sunday night. I learned some new things to avoid. I know that my dad used to say, "a little bit of something is NOT going to hurt you." As I child I bought into that - not now. A LITTLE BIT of poison can hurt me terribly. Companies are getting REALLY smart. Someone made me a coffee with No Sugar Added hazelnut coffee flavoring from Kroger recently. They were excited to have something other than half and half. One sip - too sweet for NSA??? Second sip - "can I see the container, please?" While there was NO SUGAR ADDED, the second ingredient was corn syrup. Really???? In the health food section????? Really? Then I had to gently hand the coffee back and I felt bad. More than that......I loved the TASTE and wanted it so desperately! But God has given us the Holy Spirit to help our eyes "see" and judge and then make a tough call if we have to. I applaud you for making the tough calls - when we celebrate our 100th birthdays, and our bodies are still walking 2 miles a day, we'll smile and know we judged well. :) God is for you and you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you! PK