Reason #972
Yesterday was the first day of fall. I forgot to mention it. I'm usually better about acknowledging the season changes, but fall popped up out of nowhere. Doesn't it just feel like summer was starting? I have a love/hate relationship with fall simply because I love summer so much. I won't lie, the earlier sunsets are kind of depressing and I can already feel myself getting cabin fever. I wanted to go on a walk tonight, as today was absolutely beautiful, but by the time I got around to it there was about 15 minutes of sunlight left. I was a little disappointed because today was one of those days where I really needed some fresh air. Since I wasn't going to be able to squeeze in any outdoor exercise, I improvised and pulled out an old yoga DVD. Twenty minutes into the workout my arms were burning and my legs felt like logs. It's amazing how your brain and your body can be on such different levels. My brain says, "No problem, you can stretch all sorts of ways like you did in high school. This will be a piece of cake." My body says, "What are you doing to me? You haven't moved like that in almost 10 years. That hurts. I think you're about to pull that. You better be careful or you'll hurt yourself. This is as far as I can go."
Sometimes it's a little disappointing to realize your limits. I spent most of my life dancing and cheering, so I never had problems with flexibility. I could touch my toes without having to try. I could move this way or that without hardly feeling any muscles stretch. I never woke up with any achy neck or sore hips, and my shoulders didn't hurt throughout the day. I didn't feel stiff if I sat still for an hour or two, and I didn't have to slowly unfold myself when I stood up. Of course I know these things don't get better with age, and that's a little discouraging, too. But tonight, as I felt all the blood rush to my head while trying to hold the downward dog pose, I was unhappy with my new limits. I was unhappy about what I've lost, and I was overwhelmed when I thought about how much work it was going to take me to get back to where I was. If only we could stay at our prime without putting forth effort. But the truth is, it's much easier to put forth the effort to maintain than to have to start from square one.
I find that this is true for all things in life. It is so easy to let yourself backslide. It's easy to fall off the healthy eating train, to stop working out, and to let yourself get really out of shape. It's easy to get busy and not stay in touch with your friends, read your bible everyday, or spend adequate time in prayer. It's easy to sleep in on Sunday mornings when you're tired or to stay at home on a week night rather than go to bible study because you've had a long day. It's easy to spend money on the things you want rather than denying yourself and saving it instead. It's easy to fall back into old habits and let yourself pick back up the things you worked really hard to put down. It's not easy to be disciplined and to stay disciplined. Let's face it, it's easy to do all of the things that aren't best for us, but it's not always that easy to do what we really need to.
My health isn't the only thing that needs to get back on track. There are a lot of things I have let go that I need to pick back up and be more disciplined to not only maintain but improve. After all, that's where we get the most benefit, isn't it? We don't want to stay at the same level forever, and we don't want to decline, we want to get better and be better. We want to make strides forward rather than backward, and we want to find success rather than failure. But that means we have to try. That means we have to put forth work, and that means it isn't going to be easy. But that's the beauty of being God's child. We have help. We don't have to shoulder the burden of making up for lost time on our own. We don't have to start back at square one by ourselves. We have someone who will help us along the way. Someone who will supply us with the strength we need to be victorious. Someone who will bless our humble, small efforts. Someone who will help us press on when we want to give up, and someone who will reward our perseverance and faithfulness when all is said and done.
So we just start. Maybe we start back or maybe we start from scratch. Either way, we have to start. You never finish a race you don't start, right? And we fix our eyes on the results, whatever that may be. For me, it's improvement. To be a better friend, a better witness, a better leader, helper, wife, sister, daughter, worker, and servant. To know God more. To be more like Him. To take care of myself so that I can fully enjoy the days He gives me rather than wasting them away with poor choices. Because there is something to be said for effort. There is something to be said for starting. And, if you ask me, as long as we're accomplishing something along the way, we're succeeding. The race won't end any time soon anyway. But one day, we will have arrived and we want to be sure that we make the most of our race so that we achieve the end prize in store for those who don't give up.
#972 - Because He gives us the opportunity to get back in the race.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2
Sometimes it's a little disappointing to realize your limits. I spent most of my life dancing and cheering, so I never had problems with flexibility. I could touch my toes without having to try. I could move this way or that without hardly feeling any muscles stretch. I never woke up with any achy neck or sore hips, and my shoulders didn't hurt throughout the day. I didn't feel stiff if I sat still for an hour or two, and I didn't have to slowly unfold myself when I stood up. Of course I know these things don't get better with age, and that's a little discouraging, too. But tonight, as I felt all the blood rush to my head while trying to hold the downward dog pose, I was unhappy with my new limits. I was unhappy about what I've lost, and I was overwhelmed when I thought about how much work it was going to take me to get back to where I was. If only we could stay at our prime without putting forth effort. But the truth is, it's much easier to put forth the effort to maintain than to have to start from square one.
I find that this is true for all things in life. It is so easy to let yourself backslide. It's easy to fall off the healthy eating train, to stop working out, and to let yourself get really out of shape. It's easy to get busy and not stay in touch with your friends, read your bible everyday, or spend adequate time in prayer. It's easy to sleep in on Sunday mornings when you're tired or to stay at home on a week night rather than go to bible study because you've had a long day. It's easy to spend money on the things you want rather than denying yourself and saving it instead. It's easy to fall back into old habits and let yourself pick back up the things you worked really hard to put down. It's not easy to be disciplined and to stay disciplined. Let's face it, it's easy to do all of the things that aren't best for us, but it's not always that easy to do what we really need to.
My health isn't the only thing that needs to get back on track. There are a lot of things I have let go that I need to pick back up and be more disciplined to not only maintain but improve. After all, that's where we get the most benefit, isn't it? We don't want to stay at the same level forever, and we don't want to decline, we want to get better and be better. We want to make strides forward rather than backward, and we want to find success rather than failure. But that means we have to try. That means we have to put forth work, and that means it isn't going to be easy. But that's the beauty of being God's child. We have help. We don't have to shoulder the burden of making up for lost time on our own. We don't have to start back at square one by ourselves. We have someone who will help us along the way. Someone who will supply us with the strength we need to be victorious. Someone who will bless our humble, small efforts. Someone who will help us press on when we want to give up, and someone who will reward our perseverance and faithfulness when all is said and done.
So we just start. Maybe we start back or maybe we start from scratch. Either way, we have to start. You never finish a race you don't start, right? And we fix our eyes on the results, whatever that may be. For me, it's improvement. To be a better friend, a better witness, a better leader, helper, wife, sister, daughter, worker, and servant. To know God more. To be more like Him. To take care of myself so that I can fully enjoy the days He gives me rather than wasting them away with poor choices. Because there is something to be said for effort. There is something to be said for starting. And, if you ask me, as long as we're accomplishing something along the way, we're succeeding. The race won't end any time soon anyway. But one day, we will have arrived and we want to be sure that we make the most of our race so that we achieve the end prize in store for those who don't give up.
#972 - Because He gives us the opportunity to get back in the race.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." - Hebrews 12:1-2
Comments
Post a Comment