Sugarless

It's a record for me. 21 days without dessert or sweets. No cookies, candy, ice cream, bites of the kids fruit snacks, cake, donuts, brownies... you get the idea. On January 10, the pastor at church (I guess the 'at church' part is obvious) began a series about fasting. Without getting into too much detail, the way I understand it is fasting is supposed to help one grow nearer to God, to hear Him more clearly and to focus and pray for a particular issue. Neither Scott or I had ever fasted so we accepted the challenge. The pastor proposed two fasts; a no breakfast and no lunch fast, or a no meat fast. Hello, we choose the no meat fast. And since giving up meat wasn't much of a sacrifice for me, I choose to forgo sugar as well-- which is a huge sacrifice. We struggled through and made it 7 days without meat. Scott didn't think he could possibly go on functioning without, so we became carnivores again. I continued through Jan 31 without sugar, and boy did I miss it. I'd always thought that I liked sweets because it was a habit of getting some every day and that the craving would subside with deprivation. Nope, not really. About 2 in the afternoon I'd head to the pantry and forage for something to quench my sweet tooth, pop my chocolate calcium chew (it's a vitamin) and gaze at the kids treat bowl. My craving would hit again, about 8 PM. Visions of sundaes and brownies would fill my head. But I didn't cave. I'll admit, on particularly tough days, I'd grab a handful of the kids sugar cereal or some 'yogurt' covered pretzels and a piece of gum, but with little satisfaction. So, yes, I did the 21 days, but I'm disappointed that I really missed the boat--scripture reading and prayer was not what I turned to when my body felt deprived. So I'm a failure at fasting, but I know better for next time. Maybe it was a lesson in self-control? After 3 days of being back 'on' sugar, I'm trying to not make frequent indulgences such a habit.