OK, people. I concede that I am “Middle-Aged,” even though the thought terrifies me. I mean, since I’m 60, and am unofficially classified as Middle-Aged, does that mean that 60 is in the middle and I am going to live to be 120? Wow, I sure hope not. (Watch out, Methusaleh. Someone might just break your record!)
But since I am in my Middle-Age Period, I will also concede that I am very glad I don’t live in the Middle-Age Period. I mean, the Middle-Ages had guillotines, whips, chains, stretch racks, and other torture devices. Thankfully, we no longer have to endure these kinds of torture. Now, in this current Middle-Age Period, the only torture some of us have to deal with is climbing on the bathroom scale.
I shared this information with my doctor and she told me I needed to start looking at the scale as my friend and not my own personal torture device. That’s easy for her to say. She is so thin she has yet to see the dark side of 130 pounds! She casually mentioned a certain number of calories that would be ideal for me to take in every day. That’s when the cold chills and stomach churning set in. Dare I say it? Was my doctor actually suggesting I go on a diet? (Well, duh!)
A diet? A diet? A diet??? Isn’t “diet” a four-letter word? And “diet” has the word “die” in it, so why should I take such chances? I think I tend to agree with the late Julia Child who said, “The only time to eat diet food is while you are waiting on the steak to cook.”
But there is one food — part of a special diet — that we can eat as much as we want of it and we won’t gain weight. At least not the kind of weight that can be measured on the bathroom scale. That food is the Word of God.
Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 8:3: “God humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” (Jesus later quoted that passage to Satan during the time Jesus was being tempted by that sneaky old devil.)
Read that passage again. Did you catch the meaning? We need to feed on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. That means more than a mere reading of the Word. It means taking the Word into our hearts, our minds, our very being. Making the Word part of us. Meditating on it, studying it, memorizing it, devouring it with a hunger and thirsting that can only be satisfied with more of the Word.
After all, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
So, that diet — how’s it working for you?
Verna Davis, speaker and writer, maybe reached at VrdSpeaks@yahoo.com.
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THE JOY LADY: There’s one food that we can eat as much as we want
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Banks of the Wabash Festival kicks off May 23
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Community Theatre concludes season with ‘Social Security’
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Bruce’s History Lessons: Morse’s telegraph and its impact as a ‘game changer’
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Singer-songwriter Aly Tadros to perform at The Verve
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Longtime weatherman Jesse Walker relates well to people of Wabash Valley
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CULINARY COURSES: Clabber Girl Classroom Kitchen provides variety of cooking courses for the Valley
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RIVER OF SOUND: Composer sees symphony bring his musical imagination to life
David Watkins smiled as he stood on the Tilson Auditorium stage. The audience stood, too, applauding.
Two of his compositions had just been performed by the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. Neither piece — “A Wabash Portrait” and “River Fanfare” — had been played publicly in decades. -
The Beauties of Spring: Stunning array of wildflowers bloom each spring in Collett Park
Groundskeepers put off the first mowing of Collett Park each spring.
Admirers of the place, Terre Haute’s oldest park, like it that way.
A stunning array of wildflowers covers the 21-acre lawn for a few short weeks. Those plants, known as “spring beauties,” emerge in March, bloom in April and go dormant by May, when the brilliant waves of white and pink flowers disappear. -
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From kilts to haggis, Wabash Valley Scottish Society marks a decade of preserving heritage
As soon as Richard Cooper breaks into his Scottish accent, a smile automatically follows.
It happened last week as he recited a work of legendary Scotland poet Robert Burns. -
Witness to history: April movie chronicles Jackie Robinson’s trials as be breaks Major League Baseball’s color barrier — something Vigo County native Harry Taylor witnessed first hand
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Harry Taylor witnessed it firsthand.
Robinson wore jersey No. 42 for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Taylor wore 41. Both were 28-year-old rookies, considerably older than most. Taylor got delayed by military service in World War II. Professional baseball’s unwritten but ironclad code of racial discrimination had kept Robinson and other African-Americans out of the majors since the 1880s. -
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The Fillenwarth sisters are sisters in more than one sense of the word.
Both were born two of the eight children of city cop Henry and his wife Catherine Fillenwarth. Both grew up among a large and giving Catholic extended family in inner-city Indianapolis in the 1940s. -
Geocaching Indiana: Clay County man develops idea to use geo-art to create outline of state in caches
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Voice of a Storyteller: Chance meeting of Twain, Paris youngster inspired narrative voice of Huck Finn
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Pearls of the Wabash: Efforts to reintroduce mussels
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Natural Habitat: Meet 17-year-old Ben Cvengros, who has a knack for capturing wildlife — in particular, birds — on his camera
I would like to introduce you to a 17-year-old Parke County teenager who has an incredible level of patience. Ben Cvengros was 12 years old when he found his passion for photography.
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WORD PLAY: Scrabble Club broadens Greene County youngsters’ vocabularies and experiences in a fun way
Drew Helton nodded his head like a wise college professor dispensing scholarly advice.
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Doing a lot with a little: Family’s resourcefulness leads it to reuse vegetable oil as fuel
Up a winding driveway, tucked off a main road in Clay County, sits an average-looking house in a hardwood forest. The homeowners, Chris and Lori Hart, are two resourceful people.
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Coming full circle: Vigo County 4-H’er hopes donation of livestock auction money helps youth
The phrase “giving back” is often quoted but sometimes lacks personal follow through.
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CRUISIN’ TO A CAREER IN MUSIC: Terre Haute native Will Foraker on a roll with new album, job as cruise ship entertainer
On his way to the Panama Canal, Will Foraker sounded energized.
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YOUR GREEN VALLEY: Keep your garden — and yourself — safe from lead
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lead poisoning is the No. 1 preventable environmental cause of illness in children.
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TRIED ‘N’ TRUE: Need something for the kids? Try these Ritzy Cookies
When we have dinners at the church, one of the ladies brings these cookies. Nancy Kahl has been making these for some time now. They are so good. Need something for your kids? Make sure that there isn’t any one who can’t have peanuts. These are so easy and extra good.
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‘A Song for Indiana’ to raise money for Dresser sculpture
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Sign up for Community School of the Arts classes
Summer is the perfect time to enroll children and teens in theater and visual arts and music classes at the Indiana State University Community School of the Arts.
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FAMILY TIES: While searching for my grandfather, I found my mother
I remember the afternoon my mother received the chilling news from her nephew that her oldest sister and brother-in-law had been killed in a car/bus collision.
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GRAPE SENSE: Same old whites getting you down? Try something different
If the same old Chardonnay, Riesling or Pinot Grigio is getting you down, try something different.
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TRIED ‘N’ TRUE: A Rhubarb Nut Bread for the season
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Diamond Hill Station goes bold in ‘Katy Bar the Door’ album
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Roxie Randle takes next step with single ‘Everything I’m Not’
The next step for singer-songwriter Roxie Randle is a single with the attitude and power to crack radio airplay lists.
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Opening reception Friday for ‘Mud Musings’
Indiana State University’s Community School of the Arts is scheduled to host an opening reception for an art exhibition from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday in the Gallery Lounge of ISU’s Hulman Memorial Student Union.
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