I was reading recently a story I had first heard about fifty years ago, when I was in primary school.  It was the story of the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce who defeated the English at the battle of Bannockburn back in 1314.  I couldn’t remember anything about him other than that he had suffered defeat several times prior to this and that he had eventually found his inspiration not to give up by watching a spider.

Are you discouraged in your struggle to lose weight?  Perhaps you, too, can find hope and inspiration from this story…

Robert was in exile at the time, living in a miserable hut on the isle of Rachrin, off the Irish coast.  He had suffered heavy defeat against the English King, Edward I and hearing of the death of his brother and captivity of his queen, was about to quit.

One lonely night as the wind howled outside and the fire was dying down Robert lay still and silent on his mean straw bed, troubled and disturbed by his anxious thoughts. Suddenly his eye was caught by a spider - the creature was hanging by a long silvery thread from one of the wooden beams above his head, and trying to swing itself to another beam. The spider tried again and again, failing every time. Six times, counted Robert, the spider tried and failed. 'Six times,' thought Robert to himself, 'have I fought against the English and failed.'

Robert looked at the spider more intently. 'Now if this spider fails again on the seventh attempt, I too shall give up the fight for Scotland. But if it succeeds, I shall try again.' The spider, as though aware of Robert's thought, swung itself again with all its tiny strength - and finally, on the seventh attempt, it succeeded. It swung on to the beam it had been trying to reach, and fastened its thread, thus stretching the first line of the web it was trying to weave.

Robert Bruce smiled, and sat up. He threw off his despair and grief, and determined to set out for Scotland again and continue his fight against the English. He fought against the English for the next eight years, defeating them and finally driving them out of Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn.

This Scottish legend makes no mention of drawing on divine strength – it is purely secular- and in fact spiders do not spin webs by swinging on a thread either. (They wait for the wind to carry the sticky first thread to attach it to a surface and take it from there)  Nevertheless it serves as a reminder that between the dream and the fulfilment of that dream, whatever it be, there are struggles and discouragements; there are times when our strength fails us and we are ready to throw in the towel.  ‘Is it worth it?’ we wonder ‘Why not just take the easy option? Surely it is better to remain overweight than to suffer the pain and demoralisation of constant defeat.’

I, too, have felt like that.  I was a yo-yo dieter for more than thirty years.  I would have my moments of victory when, after months of deprivation and hard work I would reach my coveted weight goal, but then I ALWAYS put the weight back on, with more besides.  Once I reached the menopause I reasoned that it was too late to turn the clock back; what had been so difficult all my life was surely going to be impossible now given all the hormone changes and the overwhelming evidence of weight gain in later life. Like many of you I was ready to quit but then I found my inspiration, not from a spider, but from the Bible.

God began to show me that dieting was not his way of helping us to control our weight, but that he had a better way.  He showed me that just as I had been learning to draw on his strength to overcome difficulties and other faults and failings in my life so, too, he wanted to empower me in this, the greatest struggle of all. He showed me that victory wasn’t to be found by striving in my own strength to resist temptation, but by abiding in him and letting the Holy Spirit control my thoughts and emotions surrounding food.  

I didn’t succeed all at once, there were struggles and setbacks, but I got there in the end!  Looking back, the difficult times taught me so much. My motivation was refined so that I came to a place of wanting to glorify God in my eating behaviour, not just to look good; I discerned more and more the difference between walking by faith and walking by sight; I found that the way of grace was totally different than ‘trying to be good’ and keeping all those dietary rules and regulations; I died to what my taste buds demanded in favour of what my body required and I learnt to love and accept myself in greater measure than ever before.

Joyce Meyer wrote a book (I can’t remember the exact title) but it was something about enjoying the journey whilst on the road to where you want to be. You may not be where you want to be right now, but you are on the journey.  God is with you each step of the way. So don’t be impatient; let it be for you a journey of discovery; get the most out of what he is wanting to teach you. You will get there in the end.