Diet Pledge

What do you think of when you hear the word, Pledge?

Here are some of the definitions according to dictionary.com:

• a solemn promise or agreement to do or refrain from doing something: a pledge of aid; a pledge not to wage war.
• something delivered as security for the payment of a debt or fulfillment of a promise, and subject to forfeiture on failure to pay or fulfill the promise.
• to promise solemnly: to pledge one's support.
• to stake, as one's honor.
• to make or give a pledge: to pledge for someone.

We often think of saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, or of fundraisers. Perhaps you have made a pledge to a club of some sort for membership. Whatever type of pledge you have made, I'd like to ask you a question; How seriously did you take it?

This may seem totally unrelated for now, but I'd also like you to think about dieting. In this country, people usually think of low-fat or low-calorie foods when they consider a diet. Diet foods are easy to find in any grocery and can often be found with the title of Lite, but have you ever read the label? They tend to have a long list of ingredients that are harder to pronounce than the names in the Old Testament. Even if not, there is a certain amount of processing that has taken place to reduce something that was originally there, such as fat.

Over the years as I struggled with weight and health issues I've had to come to the conclusion that if it is too processed and "un-natural" that my body wasn't meant to have it. I was stuffing myself with all of these "diet" things so that my body wasn't getting the natural nutrients and minerals it needed. What it has boiled down to is, eat smaller portions of the real stuff instead of larger ones of the fake stuff. Not only does it taste better, but I enjoy what I can have all the more. If I have felt convicted not to eat a certain food, then I just don't eat it. I don't eat the Fake it.

This is what I feel we have done to our pledges. We have processed them down so much that we at times have changed their whole meaning. When we pledge to something, I truly believe we are staking our honor to it as one of the definitions described. If we are stuffing ourselves on empty pledges, we loose the flavor and richness of the true one. This too, is not healthy for us.

When I pledge to the flag, I am pledging to "One Nation under God." If we pledge money to an organization, we are committing ourselves to what they stand for. Our commitment to what we pledge is directly related to our all commitments. If we are lackadaisical in our pledges and commitments to those around us, what makes us think we will be different with what we pledge to God?