Season of Food

Halloween.  Today usually marks my food frenzy that lasts until January 1st.  Oh, the holidays.  Sure they are for friends and family to gather and enjoy one another.  But, if I am honest(and you know I always am), my main thought is about what kind of food I will get to eat.  It is a time of no limits and no questions asked.  Enjoy yourself to the fullest is always my motto.
Well, this year will be different.  Bryan and I discussed what I was going to do this year and the conclusion we came to will not be an easy one.  This year, it will be a time of sacrifice.  I am committing to skip all of the normal treats this year.  That is right, not even a cookie on Christmas.
I know many of you may be thinking that this is extreme, but let me explain.  There will come a time in my life when I will be able to eat all things in moderation.  But, I have been so blessed with this amazing surgery, that I feel like I need to give it my all until the weight is completely off.  It has been nearly 6 months without a cookie, cake, pie or any baked good passing through my mouth.  What is a few more months in the grand scheme of things? 
Throughout these months, I have learned how to cope with the situations when these things are present.  I have learned that the temptation to eat is always met with a way out.  I have learned that if I can hold out just long enough, then everyone else is through eating it and then I am victorious one more time.  Oh, the feeling of victory(even the small ones) is so much better than the guilt!!
Today I read in Philippians 3 about pressing on towards the goal.  What is my goal?  Of course it is to lose the weight.  But in a heavenly sense, it is to live the life that God has called me into until the day I meet him in Glory.  So, I will cling to the knowledge that life is about more than this.  One day these small sacrifices will be met with a great reward.  A reward of knowing that I am striving for the eternal prize.  A relationship with God is so much better than a pan of brownies will ever be!!
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But, one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3:12-14