Do you ever find yourself wishing you didn't have to exercise to stay in shape and healthy? I sure do, and it sometimes makes me want to scream. Scream for not being blessed with a great metabolism or genes that some people have. You know who I am talking about right? Those who have had 3 kids and within months are back to their "girlish" figure. The one they had before they found out they were pregnant, or those who can eat anything, and I mean anything, and still keep their "girlish" figure. Yeah, I hate them, too. Well, maybe hate is a strong word, but since I started working out today, I want to say... hate! After months of saying I was going to start working out and putting it off, because I really just didn't want to, I decided to start today. I got my iPod and towel (the one to wipe the sweat I know I will get) and headed to the gym. I got on the tread-mill and started walking. I started slow, and after a couple of songs, increased my speed. A couple of songs later I increased it again and then increased it again. I was doing pretty well. I made it 37 minutes. Some of you are probably thinking, what a wimp! Thirty seven minutes ?? That is nothing! Well, for me it is.... and I know if I go every day, I will increase in speed and time. I may miss a day here and there, but for right now, I am determined to make it faithfully.
I know it is that way sometimes in the Christian life. We don't take the time to read God's Word, study and pray, and then we wonder, when things go wrong, or we get discouraged and lose focus, why am I feeling this way? Well, like our bodies, when we don't continue to exercise and keep it healthy, we can get overweight, have health problems and a variety of other sympoms. The same, or actually more important, is keeping our spiritual mind healthy. I Timothy 4: 8-9 says it this way: “Exercise daily in God - no spiritual flabbiness please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful but a disciplined life in God is far more so making you both fit today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart.”
I hope that in a couple of weeks I can say to you that I have been faithful in my daily exercise of my body. I am also working on my spiritual exercise. I am going through Beth Moore's daily devotion of Paul. I like this, because you are in the Word first answering questions that only you can answer for your life, not anyone else's, and then spend time giving over to the Lord what you need to and taking your requests to Him.
If you aren't already exercising, and you know ....you know you need to be (I am), take time to start this week. It doesn't have to be anything major; baby steps first.
Most importantly, make sure you are exercising your spiritual mind. What are you doing daily to keep your exercise what it needs to be?
See you next time!
