When I was in the fourth grade, I went shopping with my Momma Kay at JC Penney’s. I needed some jeans because school was starting soon. She saw a coupon in the catalogue for a BOGO deal, so our Sunday afternoon was booked. She walked right up to the sales associate and said, “Where are your jeans for junior girls? We’re gonna need them in the husky sizes.” 😳
That became my identity for the longest: THE HUSKY GIRL. When I started middle school, I became proactive about getting into shape. The summer between 7th and 8th grade, I used to walk 5 miles every day. I probably lost 30 pounds that year as a 13 year old. By high school graduation, I had tried every diet in the book. Atkins, South Beach, Weight watchers, Couch to 5K, Low Carb, Low Fat, High Protein…I tried it, I did it, I bought the t-shirt. Diets aren’t bad, but like most things, it depends on your “why” behind the diet.
But if I were to tell you that I was going to stay on The Milk Diet for the rest of my life, where I only drank cow’s milk for every meal, you’d think I was crazy, right? Drinking milk all day is fine for an infant, but for a fully grown adult, that’s ridiculous. God designed our body to grow stronger once we are able to welcome in new nutrients through different foods. His design timeline is equally perfect: we can welcome juice once our tiny fingers can hold up the bottle, puréed baby food once we have control of opening our mouths, finger foods when we develop fine motor skills, and our teeth come in right when we’re ready for solids.
I never met a baby who tried mac and cheese, chicken fingers, and chocolate cake and then begged their mom to go back to just milk. Why? They’ve witnessed the incredible benefits that these foods have brought. I’m sure there was a moment of fear at 5 months of, “Oh, crap, I’m gonna choke. It’d just be easier if Mom fed me the bottle.” But we were called to something better.
Ms. Susie has been the cradle roll teacher at the church I grew up at for…well…at least 34 years. I’m confident that she is the Baby Whisperer. She is a fan favorite among the Milk Diet obsessions that she teaches each quarter. She knows these babies are born craving food, someone to love them, and protection. It doesn’t take long for them to love the one who feeds them, protects them, and loves them. Ms. Susie taught me that Jesus loves me and that the Bible tells me so.
Once I grasped that Jesus loves me, I was able to hear stories and view flip charts of all the other people that Jesus loved. I remember gluing cotton balls on the construction paper sheep’s tail as we learned that Jesus was our shepherd and we were His sheep. The story of Joseph and the cup bearer’s dreams was one of my favorite’s because the other three year olds and myself got to sample white grape juice….right there in Bible class!
At the private school I graduated kindergarten from, as part of the end of the year ceremony, my classmates and I recited the ten commencements. That was the year we ate little snacks, sang songs, learned the alphabet and how we can honor God by obeying His commandments.
I got into my youth group and found my forever best friends. We were creating foundations that all centered around our love for Christ. We were beginning the battle deciphering the differences between what we wanted and what God wanted and noticing that they didn’t always line up. I remember multiple youth activities at McDonalds eating happy meals and learning about Jesus’ unconditional love. I knew I had conditions in my life: I was a liar, I was selfish, I was a cheater, I was a manipulator…but Jesus loved me enough to die for me anyway. My friend Ashlee was the one that encouraged me to take the scary but wonderful step towards confessing my sin and getting rid of them in baptism. (Always keep blunt friends that peer pressure you positively 😉)
In college, I learned how to love Jesus unconditionally. Christ’s conditions for us may look like taking your son up to a mountain to sacrifice him like Abraham and Isaac, or wind up in a jail cell singing devo songs like Paul and Silas, or putting your entire paycheck into the collection basket like the widow. But even in the conditions that we can’t understand, we love Him anyway. There have been many full blown Christmas dinners I’ll reflect at over the previous year and still not understand, but I’m comforted by the words of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight.”
The toughest bite to swallow is the stage Ben and I have currently been in for the last year: comprehending the uncomprehendable. You’ve got the peace from Heaven that “passes all understanding,” (Philippians 4:6-7), the way the spirits, good and evil, influence humanity (Romans 8:38-39), what we will look like in Heaven (1 John 3:2), and so many other great mysteries of our Father. But learning to give a God you’ve never seen full glory for the mysteries instead of become overwhelmed by them is a whole different level. The Holy Spirit working inside of each of us is the only way we could truly swallow something so tough.
I’ve been blessed to feast on a buffet chocked full of truth so far in my life. There was a period in college where everything had changed. The paths God wanted me to go we’re too conflicting with the goals I had set for myself. I feared…well…choking. I tried ignoring the scriptures and going off what was natural. I failed…so bad. I realized, anytime I try to go back to the simple, natural desires of my heart, I’ve got to call it what Paul calls it in Galatians 5:9: “sinful”
Craving only feel good, Milk Diet lessons from God’s word aren’t the whole truth, meaning it’s not truth at all. Graduate from the cradle roll class, put on your husky pants, and let’s sink our teeth into the most delicious ribeye God provided.
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