by Rhonda Rhea
I thought it might be helpful if I made a check list with the top ten overeating signs for those of us who tend to spice up our season with a few too many calories. Any time we have to check off more than a couple of these items, it might be a good idea to ask for a health club membership for Christmas.
Top Ten Signs Your Holiday Overeating is Out of Control
| 10 |
You hunt for a turkey that’s bigger than a Buick. |
| 9 |
You decide that the only gravy boat that goes with a Buick-sized turkey is your husband’s 12-foot bass boat. |
| 8 |
Your doctor decides you’d better get a cholesterol screening, but the finger prick yields cranberry sauce. |
| 7 |
You realize the red stripe on your belly is actually steering wheel burn. |
| 6 |
Your family invites Jenny Craig over—for your intervention. |
| 5 |
Jenny asks you to be her poster child. |
| 4 |
You’re inducted into The Little Smokie Hall of Fame. |
| 3 |
Your husband gives you an extra long strand of pearls for Christmas, but you can’t talk when you wear them. |
| 2 |
You drop a turkey leg on your belly while having a snack—and you never find it. |
| 1 |
You suddenly notice you’re being orbited by a small moon. |
Personally, I try to get a handle on overeating sometime before I notice the moon. That gravitational pull does such a number on my holiday hairdo.
Isn’t it amazing how our schedules can get “over-seasoned” too? How do you find relief from the indigestion-inducing activity?
How Do You Spell Relief? K-I-N-G-D-O-M T-H-I-N-K-I-N-G
Activity-indigestion resulting from an overly spicy Christmas season can be relieved as we make sure we’re committed to genuinely worthy activities. Busyness isn’t condemned. It’s actually encouraged—even commanded. But empty, fruitless busyness is a sad waste.
It’s so easy to get our priorities mixed up when life is too busy. We tend to overindulge in the temporary and starve ourselves of the eternal. Talk about a spiritual diet out of balance!
We find perspective when we trade empty busyness for Kingdom busyness. We need to make sure the things we’re in a flurry over are the things that count in the Kingdom—the things that count eternally. 2 Timothy 2:1-7 says, “So, my son, throw yourself into this work for Christ. Pass on what you heard from me—the whole congregation saying Amen!—to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. When the going gets rough, take it on the chin with the rest of us, the way Jesus did. A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain” (MSG).
Throwing ourselves into the Kingdom work of Christ means saying no to those frivolous, fruitless works. We’re instructed to say a giant “yes” to the Kingdom work just as soldier says a “yes, sir!” to his commanding officer, and as an athlete responds in obedience to the rules laid out by the coach. If we want fruit instead of barrenness, then we have to be as diligent as a faithful farmer. In verse 15, we’re further reminded to “Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple” (MSG).
Will there still be little, nitty-gritty, seemingly unimportant activities crowding the Christmas to-do list? I’m afraid so. But as we sift our busyness through Kingdom thinking, we’re able to immediately spot more of the activities that are wholly in the non-Kingdom category. We can trim some of that holiday fat, so to speak, and focus on the true reason for the season: Jesus. As we cut some of the busyness, we find more time for serving him and sharing his love with those around us.
So when that indigestion starts to set in and we’re over-stuffed with fruitless holiday worries, let’s not let them crowd out our work for Christ. More Kingdom work—fewer calories.
Excerpted from I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate: Christmas Reflections with a Little Holly and a Lot of Jolly by Rhonda Rhea (Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006), pp. 23-25.
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