Day 4: The Expulsive Power of a New Affection

Sunday April 17: Day 4

The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. It’s a sermon that was delivered by Thomas Chalmers and it has been referenced by many modern day preachers. The idea behind it is that when we are reconciled to our creator, we have new desires, such as desires to please Him, desires to see other people happy, desires to be a noble person and do right to reflect His goodness. Only when these new desires become stronger than the desires to do wrong, can someone have any true victory over sin. We don’t just tell people not to smoke and not to chew and not to go with girls who do. A desire for something bad has to be replaced with a higher desire for one to be truly sanctified.

If this is true on the high and cosmic level, it seems it can also be reflected in the little, mundane things like giving up sugar. The only way that I’m going to be successful at knocking this sugar habit is if I replace sugar with something better.

For instance, in “the old days,” these were the days from about 5 years ago to 15 years ago, I had myriads and myriads of toddlers roaming the premise (5 to be exact, although of course they weren’t all toddlers at once.) But every good mother of toddlers has one ultimate goal everyday, and that is to get all napping children to nap at the same time every day. There was a time when I had a 6 month old, a 2 year old and a three year old. This can be tricky with the different ages, but I somehow made it happen nearly everyday. And when those three were sound asleep, I felt like the champion of the world. Heck, I was the champion.

And that’s when the chocolate came out.

I mean, come on, every woman champion deserves chocolate. Those were crazy-busy days: two in diapers, nursing one while the other emptied the contents of a kitchen cabinet, etc. There were fights to break up, snacks to be divvied, and lots of lots of messes. I was exhausted by nap time and chocolate was my reward.

But then children grew older and the work got less intense, the habit of having a little chocolate after lunch never quite went away.

So I was talking to my sister today about this and we landed on me having a little “avocado” time every afternoon instead. Mmm boy!