a starting place for self control

Yesterday I was thinking once again about that one area where I lack self control in a bad way, and all of a sudden I thought, What if I could say I used to… 

I have lots of things I used to do.

·        I used to eat a whole bowl of cereal before bed…now I just eat a few bites.

·        I used to go weeks without exercising…now I walk on the treadmill three to five days out of the week.

·        I used to wait days before doing dishes…now I just wait a day…or two.  (Give me credit for progress, people.)

·        I used to eat whatever…now I read labels and think about the nutritional value of food.  (Except for select labels I choose to ignore, like I have no idea what’s in a Lindt truffle, and don’t anybody tell me.)

·        I used to pull out the credit card to buy things…now I use cash. 

Because I have a list of successes, I know it is possible to make strides in self control, so my goal is to be able to say I used to about this one area of my life that plagues me. 

Ephesians 4:22 says, “you took off your former way of life”.   

You used to…but now… 

What area do you most need self control in?  Try saying “I used to____________” and see how it feels.