Entering a New Year; Trying to Leave a Vice or two Behind

 

By G. E. Shuman

 

In my last column I divulged one of my weaknesses, (And you didn’t think I had any.) That weakness was an occasional craving for peanut brittle. Silly, right? Peanut brittle; just an old fashioned sweet for an aging and not so sweet guy.

Truthfully, sweet foods are not normally on my ‘cravings’ list anyway. Other things are, and I am about to do another ‘divulge’ here. Some of you must be like me, at least I hope you are, in the fact that anything called ‘savory’ (and the very sound of that word,) can make you think of salty snacks. At least it works well for me.

When my young granddaughter had yet to learn to read, she used colors to name her favorite stores for ‘Papa’ to take her to. There was the Green Store, (Dollar Tree) and the Yellow Store, (Dollar General.) Everyone should also realize that the good ol’ golden arches in the land where every word starts with the prefix ‘Mac’ are golden for a reason. They look exactly like big French fries to the young eyes of every whining child in every car seat in America, and beyond. Now THAT’S effective marketing. (Even toddlers have vices, whether they know it or not.)

Anyway, back to my own addictions. You see, any store that sells salty snacks is difficult for me to pass by, if the craving happens to have been awakened by my rumbling stomach. I have applied my car’s brakes countless times just to satisfy that urge. Lately it is difficult for me to pass the ‘Yellow Stores,’ since I discovered that they display a veritable smorgasbord of Pringles chips! Seriously, many stores sell Pringles, and Pringles are the saltiest, savory-est self-indulgent-est snack on the planet! The Yellow Stores have displays of Pringles that are about four feet wide and three shelves deep, with EVERY possible Pringles flavor, from salt and vinegar to dill pickle, from cheddar cheese to scorchin’… yes, SCORCHIN’ sour cream and onion, (which I bought one recent day.) It just isn’t fair, when all I was doing was driving past the store on my way home! I know, it could be worse, but it’s bad enough.

I’ve never been much for New Year’s resolutions, because, as you can probably tell, and as I’ve said before, I can usually resist anything but temptation, (Please pray for me,) and resolutions don’t ever work out very well.

Still, I know that if I would like to lose weight in the coming year and not end up four feet wide like those Pringles displays, I’d better smarten up.

The other day I came across a familiar verse in The Bible that has always helped me whenever I have paid attention to it. Seriously, I am convinced that The Bible in total holds the solutions to all human problems, but this short verse will at least cover you if you’ve got a Pringles (or other) such vice.

The verse is Philippians 3:13 and it was written by the Apostle Paul. He was a guy with a decidedly ‘un-savory’ past and was determined to not return to his own old vices.

The verse: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

So, although I’m not a New Year’s resolution sort of guy, I’m trying to look straight ahead down the road until I get past the temptation of The Yellow Store, and just keep on heading home, forgetting those things which are behind.

Happy New Year!