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| Click to enlarge. Be sure to look at these flavors! |
We are all pretty aware of what eating the wrong things can do over time to our bodies. I don't know of anyone who would feed their children just sugar. And we know how important it is to exercise our bodies, as well, even when we may not do as much of it as we would like to or as we should. But many people act as if the body is the only thing they need to mind; to care for and feed in a healthy way and to exercise. Not so. There is much more to us than our bodies. In fact, I believe it is more important to feed and exercise our SELVES; our spirits and souls, for lack of a better term. Perhaps the word character works, just as well, with better understanding for more people.
I have been trying to meditate more lately. It is a discipline I have almost as much trouble with as I do aerobics, I admit. But, in truth, we meditate all the time. We 'think on' things. And what we feed ourselves with, what we see, and hear, and read, and discuss, and look at; all these things influence what we are meditating on. What we 'think on' becomes so easily who we are. We have all seen the studies about the kids who play nothing but violent video games and who watch violent television and movies and then become kids who act out in violent ways.
There is so much to look at and to fill our minds and hearts with that is the moral equivalent of junk food, at best. Those things do our character little good, and often much damage.
"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Prov. 4:23) We are responsible for the things that we 'think on,' just as we are responsible for what effect it has on our behavior. "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
If our body is 'a temple,' surely our minds and what we put in them is the most precious part of that temple. We don't have to sit in an awkward position and chant unknown phrases to meditate. We are meditating when we drive around town, running errands. We are meditating, feeding our character, when we sit at the computer or the television and decide what to look at and to allow to feed us.
My favorite scripture speaks of the 'healthy diet' for our souls and character:
..."Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Phil. 4:8)
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| Photos taken at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA by KSpoering |
