Get Thee Behind Me!

I blame it on my mother! (Don't we all?) My father, Lord love him, had the right idea as he tried to distract my toddler tears by pointing out to me that they were salty and that I should try tasting them. My mother, the ever-practical one, simply walked by and handed me a cookie. I hate to admit it but the cookie won out over the salt. It wasn't even a contest. To this day, I've been constantly lured off the straight and narrow healthy path by sweets. I can resist salty snacks no problemo but wave a donut in front of me and you'd best be quick or you'll find yourself missing a few fingers as well as the donut.

My Sunday School class is currently studying the topic of angels and as part of that subject, we've delved into the Fall of Man. I've thought about that first temptation when that old fallen angel, Satan himself, in the guise of a serpent, was able to get Eve to take a bite of that forbidden fruit. Tradition has it that it was an apple. I just find it hard to wrap my mind around someone willing to cross the Lord of the universe for an apple. Frankly, apples rank right up on my list of temptations alongside sauerkraut. But a glazed, white cream-filled donut -- ah, that might have given me a little pause. I would hope I would have had the strength of mind to say "Thanks, but NO THANKS," and have beat feet back to Adam. Yet, in our discussions in class, we have concluded that the devil is a master at finding our weakest spots and then tailoring temptations to just those areas. I'm afraid one sniff of that donut and one look at it's glazed surface and I would have battled SERIOUS weakness.

But it gets worse. You know how the Bible says that the sins of the father will be visited upon the children onto even future generations? Well, I don't know about the sins of the "father", but the weaknesses of the "mother" have led to the passing on of certain, shall we say, "UNUSUAL" skills to my children. My son reminded me the other day when he and his wife were visiting us of how I had taught him to be able to pick out the donuts with the most cream filling.

"I did?" I asked, trying to look innocent because his wife was right there in the same room. She's a doctor AND she eats very healthy foods. At the same time, I was giving him "the eye" which, as most children know by the time they've grown up means, "Hey Buster, you're treading on thin ice here. Move on to another topic." Of course, like most grown children who have the chance to poke a little good-natured fun at their parents, my son chose to ignore the signal.


"Yea, sure. Don't you remember how you showed me to pick up different ones and see how heavy they were? If they were REALLY heavy, that meant they had the most cream inside," he explained. "That little tip has never failed me, Mom."

I looked sheepishly over at Laura. "Um, I always insisted that they use those little waxed papers, though," I assured her. Sheesh! What a skill to pass on to my kids, I thought.

And so we come back to the garden and Eve. If she hadn't eaten that apple, things would be a lot more pleasant here on Earth. If I hadn't eaten all those donuts over the years, I'd be a lot healthier today. But one bite leads to another and before you know it, you've got THIS, my friends.
So I'm issuing myself a little challenge. From now on, when I see a "donut", I'm going to think to myself, "DO NOT" as in, "DO NOT eat the DONUT!". I'll keep you all posted on my progress as I see how long I can go resisting this temptation. I'm going to be doing a LOT of praying. Any prayers you'd like to send my way would be gratefully appreciated.