Chapter 1 "What's Really Going On Here" Discussion questions 1&2

Questions 1& 2 from Chapter 1

1. The little Orange Monster tempts us to eat unhealthy foods.

• If you could personify craving based on your experience of it, what form might it take? Would it be a little orange monster or would it take a different shape? Describe what your craving looks like and how it behaves.


• If you could sit down and have a conversation with this imaginary craving, what do you think it might say to you? What questions would you want to ask it? How do you imagine it would respond?

My craving is a grey smoky tendril of temptation -- it floats around my head, by turns crooking it's finger for me to follow, and whispering in my ear and clouding my vision. It might even grab my chin and turn me to look it's way. It has a soft sultry voice that sounds so tempting. It not only preys on my food cravings, but also my craving for physical pleasure, rest, and distraction. When it speaks to me, it promises that one bite won't hurt, and that I deserve it, and I might as well, since I already messed up my plan, and lots of women look fine when they're my size -- embrace it! When I talk back to this character, I look crazy, because as soon as I notice it, it disappears, only to come back when I'm not thinking about it, with even more force.

2. How do your respond to the idea that God made us to crave? (p. 20) Have you ever pursued a craving - a passion, a longing or desire - that made a positive contribution to your life? What do you think distinguishes that kind of craving from the craving that leads you to eat in unhealthy ways?

It sometimes seems that God set us up to fail... I know that's not logical -- he made us to want some things, and choosing the right things is the trick...our obedience is the way we show our love... I do love worship, so I can relate to the passage about longing to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, but yet we do have to leave, and Monday always comes...I did have an intense desire to become a mother, and sometimes a Pampers commercial will bring on that desire for a baby again, but they do grow up...I can remember in college sitting in the bathroom of our dorm room writing late into the night, so I do have a desire to be understood in the written word that is a good desire. Taken too far, and desire can be destructive. I think any gift that distracts us from the giver and leads us to worship the gift itself rather than God is dangerous. It's not a matter of the object of desire, but the degree to which we desire it above other things that makes it unhealthy.