Chocolate Face
Eat less chocolate or solve the crisis in Iraq? They were a couple of options I looked at for my New Year’s resolution this year.
 Not that I live in a chocolate box, or I’ve got one of those self-filling Tim Tam packets you see in the advertisements, or that I can’t walk past the Darrell Lea chocolate shop. But I decided that 2005 would be the (insert trumpet fanfare and add echo) Year of Less Chocolate.
That’s not no chocolate, but less chocolate. It isn’t as significant as a spend-more-time-with-God resolution, but it’s something I want to do. It helps signal that I’m in charge of my life.
By the way, I decided there were already a number of people working on the Iraq problem, most of them far better resourced than me. But there was nobody working on my chocolate situation.
For sceptics in our audience who reckon that New Year’s Day is only another day and I could have chosen Shrove Tuesday to make this kind of resolution, you’re right. But I can never remember when Shrove Tuesday is (not the day of the week, but the time of the year), and you can’t miss New Year’s Day.
I figured I didn’t have to count the amount of chocolate I ate New Year’s Eve. This wasn’t binge time, but let’s just say a significant amount of chocolate eaten by all—including moi.
New Year’s Day some leftover chocolates were consumed. But I didn’t eat them all. I did that the day after.
You don’t want to hear the whole sad story (or if you do, subscribe to my web site . . .), but by the end of the week I felt like a kid caught with chocolate smeared over his face.
Aaargh!
Start again. Funny isn’t it how many times you have good intentions . . . No it isn’t funny! It’s frustrating.
I’m beginning to understand how frustrated God must get when we go back to Him saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t follow through again.” Or, “I did the wrong thing—again!”
And God says, “I forgive you.” And He means it. Every time.
Actually, He probably only gets frustrated when we think we can make it by ourselves.
Hmmm. Lord, I have this little chocolate problem. Oh, and could You keep working on Iraq?
|
Bruce Manners (left) is senior pastor of
the Avondale College church.