The Guy In The White Hat Wins

I am not a perfect person.

While I know many of you are staring at the screen with your mouths hanging open in disbelief at this very moment, please let me assure you that this statement is entirely true. Really. Because even though I do commit many sins each and every day, the one sin I try to avoid like the plague is lying.

And please, close your mouths.

And so, realizing my imperfections are very real, I've decided to list them for you, and for me, in hopes that once outed they will have no place to hide. Then I'm hoping to spray them with God's grace until they wither and die. Of course, they won't die completely until I croak or the Lord returns, but I figure I can take a lick at a snake because that's better than not even trying.

So, without further ado, here's my list:

I Am Not Great At...

1. Obedience
   
2. Forgiveness
   
3. Listening to what God has to say
   
4. Keeping a clean and organized home
   
5. Losing and keeping weight off
   
6. Exercising
   
7. Keeping my mouth shut
   
8. Patience
   
9. Self-control, especially where anger is concerned
   
10. Loving the unlovable
    
11. Daily devotions
    
12. Discipline
    
13. Consistency
    
14. Overcoming my stubborn nature
    
15. Admitting my faults
    
16. Basing my self-worth in God Almighty rather than in what I believe people may think
    

And I'm sure there are many more that I haven't listed.

Many, MANY more.

But you get the general idea. That list alone is enough to make a grown woman down a one-pound bag of M&Ms in mere minutes. Which reminds me that I forgot to add "overcoming gluttony."

Now, there's no way on earth I'm ever going to get all of those things under control by myself. Not in this lifetime. There's no way all of those things will magically change to the positive. It just ain't gonna happen.

But here's the deal...

With God's help, little by little, bit by bit, I can win a battle here and a battle there. With His help I can overcome part of the problems now, and part of them later. Eventually I may even get rid of many of the items on the list.

But if I quit trying, I lose the war.

And if I lose, guess who wins? The guy in the black hat. Y'all know him. He's the one with the horns and pitchfork.

So, as 2007 dawns, you'll see me fighting the good fight. By the end of the year I may be bloodied and scarred, but I'll be the victor no matter what, because God is on my side.

And we all know who wins in the end.

1 Timothy 6:12
Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well
before many witnesses. (New Living Translation)