Monday Matters

Everyday Excuses

I can pray to God, “Dear God I pray to lose weight” but unless surrender to God to work in me to change by eating differently and exercising nothing’s going to happen. My mind can justify and make excuses for my behavior but what I really need is a heart change.

I remember having this discussion with my son Peter when he was little. He had all these excuses why he had kicked his brother and yelled at me, “Mom,” he said, “if Joey hadn’t taken my army guy and you hadn’t given me the wrong snack I wouldn’t be having problems.” Fortunate for Peter I had been reading in the book of James and so I told him what Chapter 4 had to say, “Pete, we can always blame someone else for our problems but when we let go and ask God for His help for the changes we need to make, rather than asking Him to change the other person, He promises to lift us up. We need Him to make the difference in the way we live our lives and treat others... everyday.”