You speak of your son’s sudden rejection of wholesome food and your distress over it. Let us examine this matter with the eyes of faith, for the care of the body is but a shadow of the care of the soul. What has occurred is not a mere change in taste buds; it is a skirmish in that great war where the passions, like wild beasts, set upon even our little ones. You are right to be vigilant, for a child left to feed upon sugary trifles is like a healthy man who throws himself into sickness, not realizing that one needs only to care for the flesh for health, not to fulfil its lusts. When you go beyond necessaries, you light a flame and make the furnace of desire powerful.
The habit you see forming is this very thing: making provision for the flesh to fulfil its lusts. Once the appetite is corrupted by such soft and sweet things, it learns to reject what is simple and nourishing. Consider how we are worse than the brutes in this; we do not overfeed a dog or an ass, lest we hurt it. Yet how often do loved ones, through a mistaken kindness, harm a child’s body by compelling it to partake of food beyond its measure, or of food which is pure damage? You must not despair as though this were an unbreakable chain, nor must you think a quick prayer without action will suffice. The apostle commands us to bring up children in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. This is your spiritual work now. You must be the physician applying the remedy, not with timid requests, but with a mother’s firm authority born of love.
Do not merely ask Jesus to deliver him while standing idly by. Rise up and prune away these things. You are the guardian of that little temple. When family members bring these foods, you must gently, but with a will of iron, stop up their mouths. Explain that true love does not feed the disease of intemperance. If they will not listen, you must set a boundary as firm as the palace wall, lest your son become one of the many who are sick when they could be healthy. Let him learn to see simple rice and fruit not as a burden, but as the food of a disciplined soldier of Christ. Even as the deacon cries out to separate the holy from the unhealthy, so you must separate the harmful provisions from your household. Do not fear their disapproval; fear rather the injury to your miracle child.
And while you contend for his bodily health, let this outward struggle remind you of the inward one. You call him your only comfort and a miracle. Guard your heart, then, from making an idol of this comfort. It is good to cherish a gift from God, but if your peace is shattered by his food choices, you have allowed your spirit to be tossed by a dream. Look upon those mothers who sit in the vestibules, whose children are maimed, blind, or demoniacs, and learn thankfulness. Your trial is real, but it is an occasion to train both him and yourself in virtue. Let him see in you not a frantic anxiety, which is a kind of sickness itself, but a calm and holy resolution. You cannot control every morsel that passes his lips forever; therefore, your greater task is to shape his will. Teach him why we eat, that we do so to serve God, not our bellies. For what profit is there in a multitude of unprofitable children? There is no profit in a healthy body with a ruined soul, but also no great spiritual height reached by neglecting the body’s simple needs through laziness or indulgence.
This is a moment of persecution from the passions, yet it is thought to be peace, so we do not even arm ourselves. Arm yourself, then, with prayer and with action. Let the daily discipline of the table become a school for his soul, where he learns that a Christian does not live for dainty living or the pleasure of sweets. Stand firm, and you will see the appetite for those good foods restored, even as health returns to a sick man who stops eating the food that caused his sickness. Do not let him come to the spiritual fountain later with a body weakened by indulgence. Let his body be brought into health, that his soul may be undistracted for prayer. Keep watch, and do not sleep in this matter, for while it seems a small thing, it is the training ground for a lifetime of saying “no” to the flesh in order to say “yes” to God.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
