Mr. Lamb

When my nephew, Levi, was born I took Mr. Lamb to the hospital. The soft, cuddly stuffed animal that played the tune Jesus Loves Me, quickly became his favored possession. Everywhere Levi went, Mr. Lamb was sure to go. Today he is worn and ragged and not so clung to anymore, but this comfortable “security blanket” has done the job he was meant to do. I thought about Mr. Lamb this morning in terms of my weight issue. Being overweight and gravitating toward certain foods is much like clinging to Mr. Lamb. Webster’s defines comfort this way: to soothe, console or reassure; a feeling of relief or consolation; a state of ease and satisfaction; something that promotes such a state. Anytime Levi was going to spend the night at Grandma and Papa’s it always brought a state of ease or comfort as long as Mr. Lamb went too. Whenever the cuddly animal was left at home, we had to make a u-turn and go back to get him. Being overweight becomes a state in which you feel comfortable. You come to accept yourself as the size you are. You cannot imagine you any other way. My weight had become in part, my security blanket. Eating certain foods brought emotional satisfaction. Without realizing it, I subconsciously turned to certain foods for relief, for comfort. Macaroni and cheese, potato chips, all kinds of yummy breads and CAKE! Homemade pound cake, chocolate cake, Mama Jean’s strawberry cake, cupcakes and the list goes on. Oh! And Krispy Kreme doughnuts called my name especially if the “hot sign” was on. When I would have a good Aloette show or a Bible study would be especially encouraging, I rewarded that sense of accomplishment with a hot, glazed doughnut on the way home. Or if I had a yucky Aloette show or the Bible study left me feeling like nothing I said made sense to anyone, I found comfort in stopping for the doughnut or the McDonald’s French fries.

The comfort I found was a substitute – no, a counterfeit. It masqueraded as relief and satisfaction when in reality it was very deceptive. I ended up obese at potential risk of multiple health problems. The extra weight on my joints produced the first of my health risks. Addicted to an eating lifestyle that was crippling me as well as holding me back from doing some enjoyable things, I finally realized that I needed to make some changes. Yes, I needed to watch what I ate and lose some weight. But more importantly than that, I needed to see that an underlying issue was in looking deeply into why I was overweight. Seeing that I turn to food for comfort instead of seeking the Comforter was a bigger heart issue. At first I had to simply refuse myself the things that I had learned to crave. As I have said before, I had to agree to go into “rehab” and break the habits I had formed. In that process, I also began to acknowledge the unhealthy reasons and motivations for looking to food. Could I exchange the counterfeit of food as comfort for the real Source of comfort and reassurance? Once I saw how ridiculous the counterfeit was, it changed my mind and my heart.

“All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, He brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of His healing comfort…we had hard times….it was so bad we didn’t think we were going to make it. We thought it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally – not a bad idea since He’s the God who raises the dead! And He did it, rescued us from certain doom. And He’ll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-10 – The Message)