Jared Chriswell
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Just the other day, I intercepted my daughter as she attempted to use her toy barn as a step stool to climb a bookcase to retrieve a dollar store container of slime she got in her Easter basket almost a year ago. Slime, as much as we all love it, is certainly a toy that requires supervision. So, most of the time, it lives on the bookshelf. Scotlyn knows she’s not to attempt to retrieve it, yet this is not the first time she’s been caught in the act.
Once I returned her safely to the floor I chided her for this latest daredevilry, upon which she responded, much to my surprise, “But, it’s so tempting!”
Now, I’m not sure where this child learned the word “tempting”. I can only assume it’s something she picked up on YouTube or one of the myriad children’s shows she watches. I can’t fathom any adult in her life trying to teach it to her. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help agreeing with the sentiment, despite the surprisingly advanced vocabulary usage.
It is tempting. It’s bright pink with flecks of glitter and comes in a colorful container. It makes delightful squishy noises when you press it. It sticks to things. What more could one ask for?
Making it especially tempting is the fact that she was told she couldn’t have it.
During my own childhood, on more than one Sunday afternoon car rides home after church, I pondered on the story of Adam and Eve. We all know the story, hopefully, but the gist is that Adam and Eve, the first two people on the planet, are given explicit instructions from God himself not to eat the fruit of a specific tree. They have access to all of paradise, and don’t even have to be encumbered by clothing, and the only thing they have to do is not do a thing.
As a kid, I often lamented their decision. How hard is it to just say no to something, regardless of how tempting it is?
As an overweight and out of shape adult, I want to slap my younger self in the mouth.
Because it’s pretty hard.
For example, I have a list of about a hundred reasons why fried foods are bad for me. They’re full of fat and calories, they clog the arteries, the grease seeps through one’s pores. They contribute to sloth and laziness. And, most simply, you never know what kind of conditions they’re prepared in if they are of the “fast food” variety.
The negatives go on and on, but, on the “positive” side of the chart, there are only two real reasons one would ever eat fast food: it’s tasty and it’s convenient. However, this isn’t always true. Sometimes so-called fast food is decidedly inconvenient. It certainly isn’t any chapter than going grocery shopping these days.
However, despite all the reasoning against it, I still find myself whipping into a drive-thru more often than I should.
How many of us experience this same phenomenon when it comes to chocolate or shopping addictions or alcohol or drugs or gambling? The negatives far outweigh anything remotely positive, yet we do the things anyway. We let temptation take control. How dare I deride my child for climbing her toys and the furniture when, ultimately, that’s less dangerous than cramming a bacon cheeseburger down my gullet twice a week?
Learning to resist temptation takes skill, practice, and willpower. Maybe the answer to my own problems might come from teaching my daughter to overcome her own temptations. Instead of climbing that cabinet, find another toy to play with. Instead of eating those fries, I could snack on some carrots. I guess.
It does seem pretty difficult, but we’re supposed to be role models for our children, right? I’m sorry I ever gave Adam and Eve such a hard time.
