Day 12 - "Pumpkin Bread Blessings"

There are a surprising number of good things to come of the huge loaf of pumpkin bread given to me on Wednesday night by my visiting teachers. It has blessed me with:

1) Practice in moving a gift food along without eating it myself (as in real pieces);
2) Practice in not feeling like I need to have a BLT  of every thing I slice (BLT stands for not bacon-lettuce-tomato, but bites, licks & tastes);
3) Time to do other things besides prepare a treat for our Missionary Preparation class students
4)  An opportunity to say hello to a shut-in across the street with a little gift;
5)  Something to take along on a quick visit to a sister in our ward; and
6)  An opportunity to reflect on who I want to be

Well, gosh! Thank you, Pumpkin Bread! Who would have thought I'd be thanking you when you came my way? I like myself and YOU better when I embrace you as a gift that keeps on giving.

BUT! Should I give gifts of sugar when I am quickly developing a strong testimony of how bad it is for one and all?   I don't know.   Right now I'm just working on me and praying for the dear 125 kindred spirits who have joined me for October.

I have a belief that others do indeed handle these sugary treats far better than I.  I think of them as "people who can hold their sugar" -- as opposed to liquor.  How I envy and admire someone who can eat a few M&Ms from the bag, put it down ... and forget about it until they find the bag two weeks later.  I am personally aware and quietly obsessed until every M&M is totally gone.  And bummed momentarily if I've miscalculated and the last one is gone when I thought there was still another 1 or 2.  Pathetic, (isn't it/???) but true.

Once, while working as a temporary legal secretary before I was married, I worked at someone's desk where there were several  Hershey bars in her work station, each with just a bite or two out of it.  She'd clearly had a taste and forgotten about the rest of the candy bar.  The fact that I remember this 35 years later tells you how problematic this has all been for me for many years. 

Yes, indeed.  How I envy people that are satisfied and content with one piece of cake. Or that one indulgence a week is all they need.  

I know most people don't live with a sugar addiction like mine, which probably makes it OK to pass on food gifts without getting weird and fanatical.  (That's not who I want to be.)

So! Maybe I'll get to a point where I can just disgard sugary food gifts with a "Thanks!" and quick trip to the trash. 

But for now, I'm content to just give it away.

And the surprising thing? I didn't miss having a bite of that pumpkin .  At all!  The sugar cravings are definitely lessening, and I'm more grateful for that fact  than I can begin to express. That feeling is far sweeter and lasting a lot longer than any sugar dessert I know of!

Hooray!