Have you ever seen the LINE? The line I’m talking about isn’t one of the lines of the program. The LINE I’m talking about is the line or barrier that stands between us and failure, between us and going off plan, between us and returning to the addiction we used to walk in.
This line can be scary. It can be tall and overwhelming yet we can step over it so easily. For me, the LINE was the biggest when I made the choice to turn my back on my addiction forever and took the step over it. With that step came an exhausting detox, grieving of the food I was giving up, and screaming from the craving monster within me that I had given into for way too long. Even though I had turned my back on that line, it was still big for a while. It almost seemed to call to me at times saying, “You’ll never make it. You will fail at this just like all the other times you’ve failed. You might as well give it up now. You’ll never stick to it.”
This LINE doesn’t just exist in food addiction. This could be any addiction whatsoever!
Thankfully, as time went on, it got quieter and quieter, until one glorious day it stopped talking altogether. Freedom kicked in! I was free! I know so many others who have had similar journeys. But it doesn’t end here. This is the moment when a choice has to be made. And not just one time. So many people never leave that place of struggle. They never leave the LINE. Instead they just replace one addiction with another. Now they are obsessed with the LINE! They have made failure, cravings, fightings, going back, or fear of failure become their identity.
The question isn’t, “how close to the line can I get and still lose weight or still be ok?” It should be, “how close can I get to freedom? How close to God can I get?”
Why is it so crucial to walk away from that LINE? Because whatever you focus on, you automatically go towards. This reminds me of a story.
There was a guy who was in a bicycle race. Growing up, he never learned to ride a bike but after weeks of practice, he was ready! The day of the race came and all the people lined up to the starting line. He was so excited! He had one minor flaw when training. As long as he didn’t focus on a tree or a car, he was fine. But when he saw something ahead, he automatically steered right into it!
The race was about to begin when a lady he knew said quietly, “watch out for that garbage can.” The race started and they were off. However, the man was focused on the garbage can! Try as he might, his bike started to be drawn to it like a magnet. After making a complete circle in front of the starting point, he sure enough ran right into the garbage can! If that wasn’t bad enough, he got back up, made a complete circle, and hit it again!
Like this man, instead of being focused on what we can’t eat, how hard it is, the cravings, the call to go back, forget about it! Free yourself once and for all, turn your back on it, and make your way to freedom! True freedom isn’t focused on the LINE, going back, what we’re missing out on, or failure. It’s focused on freedom. Do we mess up? Of course! But the line is so far in the distance, going back isn’t an option. 99% is hard. 100% is easy. Living around that LINE is hard. But when you forget about it and walk on, it’s easy. No going back!
I think about Adam and Eve. Here, God gave them the Garden of Eden. They could eat of every tree of the garden except one. Can you imagine the wonderful fruit they got to eat? They could have been so happy and content eating of all God had given, yet it wasn’t good enough. And, why were they even hanging around that one tree they weren’t supposed to eat from? Instead of having their eyes on all they could have, they were focused on the one thing they couldn’t have. If they would have been full of all the good trees, they wouldn’t have had room for the bad tree.
I encourage you this new, fresh year. Get your eyes off the things or food you can’t have, and start focusing on all the amazing foods we can have. We are so unbelievably blessed. Turn your back on that line forever! There is power in contentment and thankfulness!
