How Much Did I Eat?

And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

I am miserable. Mike's office had been given a table at the Arkansas Documentary Film Institute's Awards Dinner and he invited me to go along. It sounded like a fun night to get all dressed up, travel to Little Rock and eat dinner at the Peabody Hotel, so I quickly agreed.

Lauren and I spent the afternoon searching for just the right dress, nothing formal, but it needed to be a little dressier than what one would normally wear to church or work. Then I had to find shoes and jewelry to match. I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results as I walked in and got several compliments from other ladies on one part of my outfit or another.

When we went in to dinner, I was delighted to find a crunchy salad made from spinich leaves, several different kinds of cheese, and my favorite spicy viniagrette dressing. Waiters soon brought baskets of crusty bread with warm butter. After the salad plates were cleared away, they were replaced with plates of stuffed chicken breast topped with fried sweet potato strings and served with cream cheese and garlic mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Though I couldn't eat the fruit tart, since it was made up primarily of strawberries (I'm highly allergic to these bright red berries), I did find myself munching on both mine and Mike's vanilla and dark chocolate "film strips" that decorated each dessert plate while sipping my 3rd cup of coffee.

After the program was over, we headed to meet Lauren who'd been to the movies with friends. The meeting place turned out to be Krispy Kreme...and though the red light wasn't on...the young man behind the counter was handing out free samples anyway, still warm and freshly iced. Krispy Kreme doughnuts are my weakness, so of course, I had to eat one. We decided to get some of the hot doughnut holes that were just coming up to bring home. The only problem was that a dozen of those doughnut holes never made it to Hot Springs. The ended up in my stomach somewhere around Benton when I could no longer resist the sugary smell coming from the cardboard box.

So, now I sit in Mike's recliner feeling like a turkey that's stuffed and ready for the oven on Thanksgiving morning. I was trying to listen to God's urgings as I read through bible verses, to see what He would have me write about tonight. But instead of being able to concentrate, I was instead regretting those last 3 doughnut holes and wondering how in the world I'm ever going to get to sleep...or if I'll ever feel like eating again. I pulled up this familiar verse in Luke and thought about how much fun it had been sitting with all the others, eating and laughing. The bible even tells us in the 12th chapter of Luke to eat drink and be merry right?

Wrong. I went back and read that verse in context.

13 Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide with me the property our father left us."

14 But Jesus said to him, "Who said I should judge or decide between you?"

15 Then Jesus said to them, "Be careful and guard against all kinds of greed. Life is not measured by how much one owns."

16 Then Jesus told this story: "There was a rich man who had some land, which grew a good crop.

17 He thought to himself, 'What will I do? I have no place to keep all my crops.

'18 Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and other goods.

19 Then I can say to myself, "I have enough good things stored to last for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and enjoy life!" '

20 "But God said to him, 'Foolish man! Tonight your life will be taken from you. So who will get those things you have prepared for yourself?'

21 "This is how it will be for those who store up things for themselves and are not rich toward God."

For the last month, I've done a lot of writing. Homework, a term paper, e-mails, text messages, newspaper articles....I even got three restaurant reviews written and submitted to the company that I sometimes write for. But not one devotion. Even though I know that this is what God has called me to do. Over the last week, He's begun to show me through various people and happenings that I needed to be writing again. but verse 20-21 really jumped out at me tonight. Everything I'd been doing was for Paula's gain...not God's.

What are you holding back from God?