What is that in your mouth?

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What is that in your Mouth?

Jesus called the crowd to him and said,

 "Listen and understand. 

What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean'

but what comes out of his mouth,

that is what makes him 'unclean.'"

Matthew 15: 10 - 11

"What is that in your mouth?"  As a mom to a toddler I ask this question more than probably any other question in a day.  And he giggles and continues to chew with a grin.  Nine times out of ten - its dog food.  Ewww!  And what's worse?  I know I am nine times out of ten going to have to go in that drooly mouth full of baby shark teeth ready to chomp because this kid teethes ALL THE TIME.  He has to be on his fourth set of teeth!  But as I asked this question for the umpteenth time today - it hit me.  I ask my son this question ALL the time and occasionally I ask my hubby as he has found something to snack and I am curious do I want that same snack.  But do you know who I rarely ask that question ?  Myself.  I put tons of junk in my mouth and then wonder why my stomach isn't shrinking?  Its amazing what a little clarity does.  The only person asking this question was myself and I got a little antsy as if this was a full on interrogation with a windowless room, squeaky chair, and dimly lit bulb swinging in front of my face.  (I really need to lay off the television cop shows ;)  

I am an adult, a mom even and I still eat as if I was in elementary school sneaking cookies and chips from the kitchen with an extra can of pop.  Who I am kidding?  I'm the one buying the junk food and still I act like an innocent victim of how is this junk getting into our house.  Well I don't want to waste food so I will cram it down my throat in a couple days worth of time.  Because that way I won't eat this guilty junk in the future.  Ummmmm that's still wasting the food but now instead of seeing the food in the trash I see it in the mirror.  The view is still quite disturbing and a bit even more unpleasant.   And what happens?  The cupboards look bare so it is time to fill 'em and wait for it!  Yup more junk food ends up in the cart that I pay for bring home and hide in the cupboards to sneak once again when no one is looking except me.  Ummmmmm anyone else see a problem here or there?  

I tell ya that toddler teaches me everyday, a little about him, a little about me, and a lot about the world.  As I mulled over this information because I didn't like the unsettling feeling it was stirring I googled-  Putting things in our  mouth scripture.  Googled was ever so helpful and changed my phrasing to what it felt I meant to say.  Good job Google!

It lead me to Matthew 15:11 - "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'.  It wasn't what I was looking for exactly - but better.  That happens a lot when you are in the middle of the journey and taking the path that seems best at the time.  You don't always end up where you think but instead find the best moments of the journey by accident. 

I was worried what was going into our mouths - my son Drew's maybe too much and mine not enough.  But my concern should be more on what comes out of our mouths because they come from our heart as we read in Matthew 15:18.  Could my words be kinder, more gentle?  Am I speaking in patience or from exasperation?  Do my words match my actions or are they hypocritical?  Are they too harsh?  Should they be more encouraging? For example, I say I want to get healthier and lose weight.  And yet, I don't ask myself enough what am I putting in my mouth?  And more so, what is coming out of my mouth? 

We may be what we eat, but we people know us by what we say?  What are you saying and sharing with the world?

May your HealthFULL Journey lead you to answers for the tough questions and  to questions that will help shape your journey. 'Til we meet again. . .

   

Junk

Not a super impressive title but junk is very much on my mind.  I have a lot of junk cluttering my mind, my bottom, my heart, and my house.  I think I am cleaning most of the junk out and away and then I have some of those blah days.  And I realized all I did for the most part was to move the junk out of my view; like dust the trash and stick it in a cupboard and call it a day.  Yes that looks nice that must mean the junk is gone.  Lah lah lah!  And then wham I am hit by the junk when I am either having a great moment and realize "Oh there is still a lot of junk - and what does junk do ?  It weighs a person down!"  So bye bye super mood.  Or what is actually scarier is when the junk sneaks up on you when you are already feeling down in the dumps and the junk doesn't just weigh you down; it downright suffocates you.  You know that feeling?  When you already feel overwhelmed and a friend calls with bad news or you are in the middle of a break-up or a fight with a loved one and you get demoted.  The junk that tears you down can be as simple as you were tardy for an appointment because the car was low on gas and then you get home just ticked off about the events of your days and wham - you step on the toy someone left out and you trip - stubbing your toe, twisting your ankle - something painful but not the end of the world.  But IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD - perhaps you throw the offending toy - or an unfriendly word - maybe you shed tears.  But you have hit the point of too much junk!

Are you really that upset about the toy?  No.  Was the demotion out of the blue?  Usually not.  Feeling overwhelmed was it all foisted upon you at once - again probably the result of several if not many different choices and actions.  Junk handled in small doses is usually pretty manageable.  It's when we let the "junk" multiply and take over - that debt, that anger, that clutter, that weight, that procrastination.  All that stuff that we like to push into closets has to eventually be dealt with.  That junk isn't fading away, its not playing nice and planning to wave good-bye - it is plotting to steal your happiness, your health, and invade your life in everyway possible. 

Some of the "junk" I had jump out is the clutter in our house.  We have been purging in spurts and when we some open areas we rejoice and then fall back into the exact same old habits that first accumulated all of the junk.  For instance we are weird paper hoarders because my hubby Corey and I don't always like to deal with papers immediately.  And paper piles grow like you wouldn't believe.  When we moved from North Dakota to South Carolina - we moved at least eight garbage bags of paperwork.  80% trash but 20% actually important documents that we wanted to hold on.  We (I will admit mostly me) have that habit of stowing the papers in a plastic bag waiting to be sorted.  And then that bag fills up so we grab another.  And another - see the pattern?  But then one day we'll sort the three bags into trash, shred, and keep.  Well the keep pile rarely gets placed into proper storage and just becomes the new bag to gather paperwork.  The garbage always gets a nudge out the door.  So yay one out of three bags goes immediately away and we feel successful.  The shred bag should be easy to deal with but as I say this three bags currently sit in my closet ready to shred.  It seems inconvenient with a toddler.  Either he's sleeping or would be way too interested or annoyed by the noise.  And who wants to create an upset toddler when the world does that enough on its own :)    So that is some of the junk.

Other junk is some emotional anxiety.  I am going away for the weekend (alone) and won't be in control of my household - keeping it clean, keeping the family happy and not in charge of my own life.  Which has me reaching for the junk food.  Which I feel like my sal the snacker is taking over because Suzy tastes some of this junk and questions why am I eating this I don't even like it!  And then some of the choices I just don't like the feeling afterward because its JUNK food.  See how junk multiplies quickly.

So I guess thats where my obsession with junk is stemming from?  I am tired of the junk surrounding me and complain about the junk.  And yet, I have a lot of trouble letting go of the junk.  Even though I find it disrupting and upsetting - its comfortable - its familiar - its excuses and rationalizations.  And I know.  Maybe not know, but truly believe that the other side through the junk is wonderful, its exciting, its freedom, its simple truth.  But as I whine about my junk I pull my ice cream a little closer, I hide my shred piles a little deeper, and smile a bit harder to cover the anxiety and hide all my junk.

On this HealthFULL Journey I feel I have circled a lot of this junk several times as the pile to deal with "tomorrow".  Tomorrow comes and I think one more time around should do the trick.  The junk is just growing and the tomorrows are fading.  Its time to grab the trash bag, and the broom.  Let's not continue to sweep this junk under the rug (or other convenient hiding places) but let's truly sweep this junk out and away.

May your HealthFULL Journey reveal treasures as you clean out the junk. 'Til we meet again. . .