The Battle

Yesterday afternoon we saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  I love the Narnia series and really enjoyed the movie.  I won't give anything away (don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie yet and aren't familiar with the story), but one theme was very interesting to me and had great application for all of us.

The characters are on a grand adventure and, like any grand adventure, there are dangers along the way.  For the characters in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, most of the dangers are from within, not without.  Early on they are told "to defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself." And so the Dawn Treader becomes a voyage of self-discovery, in which characters are challenged, tempted and tried before finding the wherewithal inside—and outside—themselves to triumph.

Each character is faced with their own dangers from within, temptations that threaten to defeat them.  Each character's temptation is different, and each character had to come to terms with this internal struggle.

For me, the struggle on this program was much more of an internal struggle than a struggle with external things.  It was an ongoing challenge to not only defeat the internal voices that told me I couldn't do this, but to also battle the desires for immediate gratification.  There were also times of discouragement when the scale wasn't moving and it was hard to stay the course. 

Right now there are a lot of external temptations to be sure.  For many of us, it's hard to think about the holidays without thinking about all of the traditional food that accompanies them.  However, even during this time with external temptations, the greatest battle we face is the internal one.

Do we want to reach a healthy weight?  Do we believe we can?  Are we willing to make the choices necessary to reach our goal or will we choose to give in to the temptations?

It's a real battle and we need to acknowledge that, but it's a battle that's worth waging - and it's a battle that can be won.  We will win this battle one choice at a time . . . choose wisely :-)