Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Psalms 34:14
So there's more than once facet of my day to day life that this verse speaks to.
First and most glaringly, my battle with food. Every single day, I need to remind myself of this. To depart from the evils that are cravings, emotional eating, and things that are just not good for me. To seek peace with the decisions to not eat this or that, and to pursue peace in the form of healthier choices and exercise. I am the QUEEN of excuses, i.e.: I'm tired, My head hurts, I have too much work to do, I need to make dinner and clean the house, etc. Here's the thing though: if I don't take care of my body, nobody else will.
The evils that I need to depart from are not all related to my physical health. This means things that are not necessarily food or food related. There are things and people in my life that are not good for me. Precarious situations that I'm put in that I have to explain to my children, and it's not fair. At least that's what I tell myself in my personal pity party. It wasn't fair that Jesus got beaten and nailed to the cross either, but he did it so we would have peace. And I must go through difficult situations and conversations to have peace. The thing I struggle with as a mere human being is this: while I know God is in control, I cannot change other people. Only God can do that. So I must deal with the evils, and depart from them. Will they still be there? Of course. Satan is everywhere. But I must try and remove myself from this situations, those things, those people, in order to find peace. At the same time though, I must still pour God's love into everything I do and everyone I meet, in order to truly do His work. It's not fair for me to otherwise. All we can do is love others, and hope that someday, something we said or did, will stick. That God's love and truth will prevail and He will be proud. You can only change your reactions, not others' actions.
So in an effort to do this, I will be conscious about not only the things that go into my mouth, but to my reactions to others and their actions.
