7 days til 29: Big Mac or Spaghetti

My willpower. Tested. Today.

I promised myself that for the next couple weeks the only food I would purchase would be from the grocery store. Last week I brought lunch from home everyday. This week I've brought lunch from home every day. I have avoided eating fast food or eating out at lunch in my normal fashion.

While sitting here during the lunch hour, I knew I needed to eat but I was not looking forward to the spaghetti lunch I’d brought today. I decided to get up, get out of the office, go purchase a small meal, and to get some fresh air. I considered the nearby fast food restaurants: McDonald’s, Mexican, Krystal, Arby’s… and decided to “follow my nose” to something uber-delicious (or at the very least salty and yummy).

Starting the car, my mind started wandering, grateful that it didn’t feel like Hades was breaking through the pavement, praying with thanksgiving for the cloudy beautiful weather, and welcoming the light breeze blowing in the parking lot.

My “I-don’t-carry-cash” behavior was going to force me to use my debit card to purchase 6 dollars worth of food. My financial goals came to mind followed by several thoughts about my behavior. How weak was I to just have to go get something? If I just decided to get a shake and a small fry (salty and deliciously sweet combination), how guilty would the $2.26 McDonalds charge make me when I saw it on the bank statement? How pathetic would it be to miss my goal by $2.26?

By the time I got to the first light at the entrance to my office park, my decision was this- consistency towards my goal or golden delicious fries. Like the forbidden fruit drawing Eve in with it's "good to eat appearance," temptation stared me in the face. Would I stick to my guns? I contemplated making a U-turn. Go out to grab lunch OR go back to the office, heat up the spaghetti, feast on my free lunch (relatively speaking), and be content with the satisfaction that my restraint was going to speak to my strong will power and ultimately accomplish my goal? Would golden delicious fries make me reneg on my promise to myself?

Well…..

…Since I used my favorite spaghetti sauce, Prego’s Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper spaghetti sauce, that spaghetti sure was delicious. I’m full and have no worries that sometime within the next 24 hours I may have to pay the special room a visit for some unwelcome lunch that I should not have purchased anyway. And guess what? I’m smiling.

This may seem like a small decision but I believe millions of people come to the crossroads of this decision EVERYDAY. So often the instant gratification of our current desire wins out over our long term goals and plans. Sadly we realize the accumulated opportunity cost of all those small decisions too late and find ourselves overspent, overweight, unfulfilled, unhappy, and wondering where the time went and how we got here. We must make wiser decisions.

How do we do that?

In Proverbs 1: 20-21, the writer says "Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets; she cries at the head of the noisy intersections [in the chief gathering places]; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks"

My revelation of this scripture is this: the Creator knows our lives are busy but every time we have to make a decision, wisdom is always there, crying out what to do. At every crossroad (place of decision) she is available. If that's the case, then guess what? All our decisions have the potential to be wise. Whether they are or not depends on you. Look, listen, understand, act.

I haven't always made wise decisions. But today I made a wise decision. And tomorrow I plan to do the same. And hopefully each day for the rest of my life I will choose the BEST as opposed to good for now.

Financial discipline: Check (today anyway... one day at a time)

I challenge you to test your discipline by aligning your behavior with your goals whether it's taking care of your body, finances, education, etc. Test your will in the heat of decision making. If you can develop discipline in one area, it is transferable. I’m going to be a Green Beret in discipline soon. Watch out world… I’m repositioning myself!

"There is a way, no matter what they say..."
Mos Def