Honesty

"Oh my," I said to the older woman sitting across from me.  "Your A1C test is really climbing up.  It is up two percent since your last visit.  Are you watching your diet?"

"No, not really," she told me.  "But I do take my pills."

"Oh," I said.  Most of my patients at least act like they are trying to follow their diet, even if they are doing nothing of the sort when they aren't in my office.

She laughed.  "I'll be honest with you.  I'm just not very good at avoiding carbs and I have a real weakness for sweets."

I looked back at my computer, wondering what to do to help her.  Honesty is a start.  If you don't realize that you have problem areas and weaknesses, you will never over come them.

At the same time, admitting failure is not enough.  Confessing sin is only the beginning of repentance. 

There is a reason why there aren't just erasers on pencils, there are pencil points too.  Having erased, we must lift our pencils and write again.

The goal should never be to live in a knowledge of weakness, but to build from that to eventual strength.  Each one of us can move from moments of defeat to lives of triumph.  This won't happen on our own and it won't happen without effort, but by God's grace and with His strength we can make the effort and begin again.

There is a victory to be had in all areas.  Even victory for those with weak wills over the scourge of carbohydrates.