When the End Goal Seems Too Hard

Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance.
(2 PETER 1:5 – 6)

Thought for the Day: Big things are built one brick at a time. Victories are achieved one choice at a time.

No matter what your struggles with food may be, victory is possible today. However, most of us don’t think that’s true. The problem is we tend to measure only long-term success while downplaying the absolute victory found in small successes.

Remember the mini-goals we talked about?

Recently, a friend of mine called to say she’d read my blog about my healthy eating journey and as a result she walked away from indulging in a bag of M&M’s. That’s a victorious small success! Now, I can’t say that her scale will stand up and clap and reward her with much lower numbers today. But if she builds upon this small success—choice by choice, day by day—she will see positive changes.

Though our focus in this book is satisfying life’s deepest desire with God, not food, this principle applies to other struggles as well:

• If I choose not to snap at my child and instead respond with tenderness, that’s a victorious small success.

• If I call a friend and offer a word of encouragement instead of shutting myself off in my loneliness, that’s a victorious small success.

• If I choose to pause before responding to the rude sales clerk, thus giving her a smile instead of perpetuating her smirk, that’s a victorious small success.

• If I choose to give my husband the benefit of the doubt rather than jumping to the conclusion he meant to hurt my feelings, that’s a victorious small success.

Sometimes victory seems so far away because we measure it only by the end goal. And end goals can seem overwhelmingly huge, daunting, and just plain hard to reach. But if we start measuring our victories by the smaller choices we make each day, victory won’t seem so impossible.

Practice this not just with your food choices, but in other areas of life as well. The more we experience the blessings of self-control, the more disciplined we’ll become. We’ll start to develop discipline confidence and stop buying into the lie, “This is just the way I am.”

“Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance” (2 Peter 1:5 – 6). This passage reminds me that I need to add some things to my faith — I can’t just say, “By faith, I’m going to be healthy.” One of those additions is self-control. And self-control starts by making one good choice.

It’s amazing the chain reaction that can start in your life with just one good choice. Big things are built one brick at a time. Victories are achieved one choice at a time. A life well lived is chosen one day at a time. Oh sweet friend, you are closer than you think to victory!

Dear Lord, I want to persevere and remain strong through this healthy eating journey. I commit each small food choice to You today, knowing that I am building a path to victory one choice at a time. In Jesus’ name. Amen.