Son-filled diet

As we drove towards Chicago on Monday morning, my kids were thrilled with the thought of watching the sun rise. Of course, around here we have plenty of buildings, trees and traffic to compete with our sight of the horizion. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful sight to watch the sky slowly lighten and to see the clouds go from red and orange to pink and purple.

Because it was so very early, we had given the kids bags of dry cereal to eat in the car. So, as we kept our eyes trained on the sky, the kids happily munched their breakfast.

Now, my oldest son is slightly competitive. I believe he thought it would be cool to be the very first one in the car to actually say, "Hey! There's the sun!" He decided that he'd better quit eating to maximize his chances of being first. He said, "I'm going on a diet unitl I see the sun."

We laughed and thought that was a pretty silly thing. I mean, really, do you even need to look to grab a handful of cheerios out of a bag? But as I sat and gazed at the horizon, his words took on a new meaning for me.

Shouldn't we all be on a "diet" until we see the Son? A diet that consists of time in God's Word, prayer, the fruit of the Spirit. A diet that leaves out habitual sin, gossip, slander, anger, a love of the world. How much better off we would be if we considered embarking on a spiritual diet! I think today is a good day to begin praying for some self control to begin a new diet in earnest. Not a food diet, but a diet that will prepare me to see the Son.