Is Weight Loss a Spiritual Act of Worship?

I am a personal trainer and fitness instructor by trade.  I know if you have been walking with God for long, you ponder your purpose in your career.  You may as I do, wonder how to do what you do unto the Lord.  I believe we are called to take care of our bodies.  We are to "tend to" the temple of the Holy Spirit.  If our body is the place where the God of the universe has chosen to place His Spirit by the death of His Son, I believe we are to take care of the temple just as the priest of the Old Testament were charged with the care and keeping of the ACTUAL building.

We do not need to worship our bodies, nor be spending countless hours measuring, weighing and counting calories.  Instead we need to have a change in perspective.  We need to change the way we look at food.  We have to make a LIFESTYLE change NOT go on another diet.  Diets work temporarily!  The reason they do not work long term is that when you loose the weight, we return to the way we ate before.  But that is the thing that got us into the shape we were in before.  So not only do we gain our pounds back, but they typically bring friends and we gain even more.

We also need to put exercise into our lives.  This is not for the purpose of weight loss but for overall wellness.  We need to be a BODY IN MOTION!!!  If we can get at least 15 minutes per day of cardio where we get our heart rates up, that is a great starting place.  Increase the 15 minutes to more over time. We need to exercise for our heart, for our joints, for our muscles and for overall wellness.  We need to do it so we can be stronger and able to accomplish more with the time we have been given, and so the Lord's instrument is working at its optimum level for His sake.  Work OUT Guideline for Cardio from my blog  This is not saying that if you have a disability or health issues that God cannot use you.  I am just saying we need to take care of what we have.  God can use anyone who is available and surrendered to Him.

We also need to spend time to nourish our spirit.  We need a quiet time where we meet with Jesus.  We need to read The Word, pray and sit quietly in fellowship with Him by His Spirit.  I believe that in our emptiness we long to be satisfied by Him, and when we are not spending the intentional time with Him, we get famished.  Out of our starvation for God, we begin to fill it with anything else we can find.  Some may fill it with food, another with alcohol and even another may exercise to excess or work too much.  There are many ways to try to fill up our emptiness.  But it never really satisfies us, and we are left with the consequences of the excess (like over weight, alcoholism, repetitive use injuries, or estranged relationships.)

So as you read this today and you say yep that struck a nerve, then maybe today you can take one step to make a change today.  I do not recommend doing all three at one time, but I do suggest you take one today.

Have a blessed day and serve the Lord today by taking care of His precious dwelling place which is YOU!

Organized and Ready to Go

As mentioned in previous blogs, I have been spending time organizing my house and my life.  As I do this, I have established a lot more margin in my life.  I didn't realize just how much I was in need of that.  It has made me a much more pleasant person.

It was quite a process and in the midst of it, I wondered how one family could have accumulated so much stuff.  I began to make piles in areas of the house.  I had a pile to go straight to the garbage, a pile to donate immediately, and a pile for ebay.  I categorized all items in the last two piles, but with the last pile I also took pictures and started the bidding at what seemed to be the average for the items. 

I started this before Christmas and with my girls approval, sold a good bit of toys as Christmas gifts.  I would love to say it went smoothly but it didn't.  Most went off without a hitch, but some snafus occurred.  Over-all, the experience has been really profitable and smooth.  My home has less clutter, but I am still hanging onto a great deal of memorabilia.  Some times you just want to know what will be meaningful to keep, and what is just taking up space.

I am a sentimental old fool.  Memories can get tapped in me by the oddest of items.  I kept some of my granny's dresses she gave me and a few my mom always wore.  Just seeing them takes me back to  wonderful memories.

So needless to say I have items around the house that mean nothing to anyone but me and I think that is ok. 

There comes a point where I have figure out how to manage all these random memories, and usually it comes in the form of storage. 

After all the remodeling efforts of our home thru about 5 phases, my storage area had gotten so out of control.  So during the Christmas holidays while most of the Christmas decorations and containers were out of the area, I decided I would not put the decorations back up until the area was organized and decluttered.

I am proud to say that I was able to put the decorations from Christmas away after the New Year. Oh what a great feeling.

Once that was complete it was on to the freezers. I organized my pantry, refrigerator/freezers.  I also found a website emeals.com that has been helping me plan meals for dinner.  It is amazing to discover what you have when you take time to organize it.  The organization of the freezer helped me plan my trips to the grocery store better as well.

All it took was time and determination.  I can tell you it gave me a great deal of peace.

Be Still and Know that I am God

 Pondering the things that consume our time.  I wonder how it is that we get so busy doing things that we may have even been led by the Holy Spirit to do.  Yet in the midst of the execution of our tasks, we lose site of the one that called us to it.  I think that I personally forget that the reason the Lord called me was in order that I may be His instrument to accomplish HIS will.  I can feel myself saying in the middle of the busyness "well I have got it from here" and just going on my merry way just doing the thing by my self.

You know that God created us because He wanted to be in relationship with us.  Not so we could "do things" for Him.

I am really trying to rest in the "be still and know that He is God" command right now.  That is right where I am and where I want to stay.  It is such a great place of rest for me.

I have been in the middle of some serious activity.  Things have been going on that just gets your attention.  I spend WAY too much time in the trenches.  As I am in the midst of this whirlwind of activity, I have to remind myself that I am too busy NOT to seek the Lord.

Hoping to have some much needed time of rest and rejuvenation.

Balancing our lives

I have so much going on right now.  There is so much in my heart and head.  I don't know what to say these days.  I am processing it all and not sure what to say about any of it.

I have really been looking at the life and ministry of an individual and that of a corporate ministry.  I wonder why we find it so difficult to find balance.  We either eat too much or not enough.  We either exercise too much or too little.  Well, we can get that way in any area.  In the church environment, we can get to saturated in fellowship and ignore other aspects, we can get overly immersed in bible study that we neglect our prayer time, and we can get so prayer focused that we forget the actual physical needs of those around us.  So when we are doing anything in our lives, lets pray for balance.

Balance

Prov 25:27 It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor. NIV
Look how it is translated in The Message:   It's not smart to stuff yourself with sweets, nor is glory piled on glory good for you

Live a life of balance.  You notice it is indicating not to OVERINDULGE in sweets.  I believe self-control is the key here.  It is not telling you NOT to eat it.  God gave us honey for our enjoyment, but TOO much is not good for you.  This applies to everything in your life.  Anything can become OUT OF BALANCE.  If you have accepted Christ as your savior, you have the fruit of the spirit in you to include self-control.  You just have to USE it and EXERCISE it.  Just like you have to exercise/use your muscles in order to strengthen them. 


Proverbs 25:28 MSG  A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.

So let's use MODERATION and BALANCE in all areas of our lives.

Balance

Where is it we are out of balance.

Did you know you can be out of balance in good things as much as bad things?  If we are out of balance in good things, that can still be unhealthy.  For example, you can exercise too much.  If you exercise too much, the results are strains, sprains, tears or repetitive injuries.  Did you know that if you are sedentary (not very active) and overweight, you are probably less healthy than an exercising smoker?   Technology is good and adds possible benefits to our lives if done in moderation.  However, the TEXTER who is driving down the road is actually more impaired while texting than a drunk driver.  (There are actual test done to prove this)   If you sit and read for too long, your eyes will deteriorate more rapidly.  Eye doctors will tell you that you should take breaks and exercise your eyes.  You exercise the eyes by taking time to look away from your reading and focus on distant objects periodically.  

Let's take time today to look at our lives to see if we are living in balance.  Take time with your friends, family, and definitely God; but also make time for yourself.  All of this seems impossible with our busy lives, but I tell you that if you find you are too busy to be balanced, you make your own schedule.  NO ONE else does.  If you find you are in a season of busyness, pray and ask God to help you prioritize your life and tell you what needs to stay and what needs to go.  If you are too busy to be balanced, then you are trying to do too much.  Make sure to take time to rest REGULARLY.  It isn't just a suggestion in the Bible because it is a good idea, it is there as a COMMAND because without it, we become USELESS.

I tell you these things because I desire for each of us to be the best we can be, to enjoy our lives and to be a good representative for God  in the world.