The Importance of Being Fit ~ Guest Blogging Day

"Pilates Training" Courtesy of Marin/freedigitalphotos.net

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. 

Psalm 119:18 ESV

I could begin with a laundry list of the current fad diets.  I could begin with a diatribe of fitness regimens certain to contour and shape your body in under ninety days.  Or, I could just begin with a simple thought that I had the other day when some friends and I were discussing our difficulties with carving out time to dig into God's Word.

What's our damage?  (A.K.A. What's our problem.)

I manage to carve out time nearly EVERY day to do my workout.  Some days it's twenty minutes, and others it's forty.  I manage to do my volunteer work for the International WAGR Syndrome Association.  I even manage to carve out twenty-five minutes a night to watch How I Met Your Mother with my husband.  (I had never watched the show when it was on television, but now that it's on Netflix, I can watch it on MY time.)

So, why WOULDN'T I be able to carve out time for God?

Wait, let me re-phrase that...

Why DON'T I?

Continue reading on Comfort in the Midst of Chaos...

The Cat on my Lap

I'm seriously reconsidering my original plan to workout.  I made the mistake of sitting down to drink some Crystal Light and eat a Honeycrisp Apple.   About two seconds after sitting down, I got a cat on my lap.  This puts things into an entirely different perspective.  (Cat-Lovers know what I'm talking about.)

I guess I need to weigh my options; I'll list them as the pros and cons of working out.

Pro:  I should workout because I'm still getting back on track from a long Thanksgiving weekend. 

Con:  I should stay in the chair with Jinxy; it's snuggle time.

Pro:  I'm dressed for my workout; that's usually half the work!

Con:  Jinxy's purring and has that quiet, peaceful, cat-sleeping face right now.

Pro:  I've got X-Files on Netflix; that could make the workout go pretty fast.

Con:  It's Jinxy!  He's on my lap!  How can I just walk away from that?

Pro:  I had my calories calculated for the day as if I DID workout; so I ate as though I 'd workout.

Con:  Jinxy's so warm!  He doesn't even care that I'm typing on a laptop that's resting on the arm of my chair.  He's sound asleep.  He has total trust and security in where he's at...I shouldn't ruin that!

I think it would be easier to have someone drive by in a large vehicle and startle Jinxy off my lap.  Yes, definitely easier.  

Postscript:  Upon publishing this blog post, Jinxy got up off my lap and out of the chair.  I shall now workout. 

Restricted Diet: Avoid Sweets and Sins

I've struggled with managing my weight, and I've struggled with managing the condition of my soul.  I really don't find that they are very different.

In order to maintain a healthy weight (at 5'3 I once weighed 165 lbs. and I now weigh 127 lbs.); I have to log-in to my app on my iPhone (myfitnesspal) and track my calories daily.  I look at how many calories I've consumed, subtract out the calories I've burned with my workout, and I have to stay around 1500 calories a day to maintain my weight.  Some people think, "Why are you trying to lose weight?"  I'm not!  I'm trying NOT TO GAIN weight.  Any and every time I stop tracking my calories; tracking every little thing I put in mouth, I WILL GAIN WEIGHT.  I'm sorry, but I cannot afford to buy a new wardrobe every 6 months simply because I have the desire to eat a jar of peanut butter.

Sin is the same way...but for some reason, we don't say to people, "Why do you study your Bible EVERYDAY!!!"  "Aren't you born again?" ("Aren't you skinny?"  "Why are you tracking your calories?" Sound familiar?)  Number one, we typically don't meet people who study their Bible every day.  Just like you might not meet someone who tracks their calories every day.  But I can tell you that I must read my Bible every day for the very same reason that I must track my calories every day. 

IT'S A SLOW FADE...

It really is!  You don't just go crashing into sin...life-altering, person-shattering, soul-killing sin!  No!  Sin creeps up...it's the little step over the line, and then, when nothing happens, you take another step over that line, and then you think,  "Hey, lightening didn't strike, I don't feel the flames of Hell at my heels, I'll just go a little further..."  That is how sin creeps in...that is how weight creeps back in too. 

When I'm not in the Word; listening with a quiet heart to what God wants to tell me, that is when sin creeps silently into my soul.  I find myself feeling proud, paranoid, and petrified.  Those feelings are what can lead me to doubt the plans God has for me, and to start making plans of my own.  It never turns out well.  I can honestly say that my plans have NEVER been better than God's. 

Whether I'm reading John 3:16 or tracking my Panera Greek Salad 380 calories, the reason I'm doing it is the same (relatively speaking); because I'm a sinner, and I need to be held accountable.

F.I.T. Forever in Training

F.I.T....Forever In Training...

Is it just me, or does life itself keep us fit?  I as thinking about this as I worked out today...pardon the rambling trail~try to stay with me...

I've been doing the Chalean Extreme program now since September.  It's a 90 day program of weight-lifting and cross-training the way the "pros" train.  These can be "work until you puke" kinds of workouts.  Sometimes I can't brush my teeth because I can't lift my arms.  But I LOVE the challenge, and I LOVE to see the results and feel how strong I'm becoming.  So, I keep doing it over and over again.

I told Jeff the other day:  "Each time I do these workouts I think to myself...'This workout feels different because now that I'm stronger, I hold my posture and positions differently which then makes the exercise even more effective so then I get stronger still!'"

Isn't that just the way life is?  We have been woven together by our loving God who designed us in such a way to grow stronger and stronger as we undergo duress so that we come back and can fight again another day. 

God didn't just throw WAGR Syndrome in at me and say, "Here you go!  Let's see how you handle this!!!" Instead, he gave me a family that had my Uncle Joel...a family that had chosen to take home their baby boy with Down Syndrome even when it wasn't the typical way things were done.  I grew up going to my mom's room at Washington, and then Lake Elmo and working and playing with the kids who lived with multiple disabilities.  My sister and I danced at the ARC dances with Kyle, Joel, Lisa, Jerri, Alice, Kathy, Mary Kay...and so many more awesome friends.

Stronger...then I was in school, and I was picked on.  I was awkward and nerdy and quick to cry~the perfect target.  I wanted to leave school.  I would wake up in the morning crying because I didn't want to go.  I enjoyed talking to my teachers more than talking to the other students because I was scared.  I knew I was different.  I knew that I wanted to bust out...I wanted to be fun...I wanted to not be awkward, but how do you change the way people already see you?

You become stronger...you go to college and join EVERYTHING!  And I did.  I tried to go to a school where there would be very few people who already knew me.  I didn't want to be the nerd...I wanted to be "fun"!  I think I was, too!!!  And, having been picked on in High School hopefully helped me become nicer to others~and maybe someday it will help me when I see other kids who are picked on~I can help them realize that there is hope for tomorrow, if they just can get through today.

Stronger...I went to grad school and learned to read statistics and data and lots of research.  Well...that certainly helps when learning about WAGR Syndrome.  :)  Not an accident.  Not "for nothing."  Am I using my degree?  You betcha.  Oh, and that's when Jeff and I started dating.  So, had I not gone to grad school...would there even be an Evie Jo?

This leads me to one big philosophical point...we are forever in training...we are NOT a product of evolution...I am not something that developed from a blob...I am an interconnected amazing system of DNA and RNA and replication and regeneration.  Oh my goodness.  God gave me a body that would store fat so I could nurse my baby girl and keep her healthy with my own antibodies~but then when she didn't need that anymore I could lift weights, breakdown muscle, metabolize that extra fat, and then build muscle back up again?  Are you kidding me? 

 I learn more and more every day.  And, I become stronger and stronger every day.  I am forever in training...mind, body and spirit.  Messing up, asking forgiveness and trying again.  Learning more about the God who made me, learning about his love for me, and learning how best to serve Him.  It's never too late to start getting F.I.T. 

"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."  Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity."  Joel 2:12-13