What If God Said Go Left

What's on your mind...

We would all like to think that if God said go left, we would without question, go left. After all, He is the King of Kings, the Omnipotent One, God of all creation. Yes, I am sure we would all go left. Right?

Well, unfortunately more than we want to admit it, we have gone right when He clearly said go left. Yes, its true. If we believe the bible to be the Living Word that it is, then we agree that God is speaking to us through His Word. I think we are challenged by the fact that these are not audible instructions, so we pass the Book off as a sacred book of biblical accounts to be read not lived.

In Colossians 3, when He said to work as unto the Lord, he meant it? Treating each other with brotherly love as stated in Romans 12 wasn't optional? Is it possible to acknowledge Him in all our ways?

If God said go left, why are we going right? Thank about it, He know what's best for us, He has our back, and we know how the Book ends, with Him we win! Do we really want to keep going right and end up in another multi-car accident or lost without a GPS system to find our way home. I don't know about you, but as I approach the next intersection that left turn is looking very tempting.

OK, being realistic we won't get it right every time, but most of the time we should find ourselves going left. Then when we have mistakenly made that right turn(the way that seems/feels right to man), we can quickly make a U-turn. Life is too short to be going in the wrong direction for miles. Who wants, what should have been a 2 mile run to turn into a 1000 mile excursion.

It Is More Blessed to Give Than to Receive

What's on your mind...

"Nothing has been planned yet," was the response I got from my daughter's principal. I had called to see if I could help with the Haiti Relief effort at the school. Based on her response, I couldn't just sit on the side lines or help out this time, it was obviously my turn to step up, take the ball and run with it.

I could sit back and say, "What can I do?" or "Orchestrating a fundraiser sounds like a lot of work," but is that what we are called to do? Sit back and wait for someone else to do it, or talk a good game with very little action? In fact we could look at this from two different angles, what if every school in America held a fundraiser or what if everyone waited for someone else to do it.

Well, as I was planning the Haiti Relief Fund Effort at the school, I was reminded of a scripture in Acts. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Acts 20:35

I actually just remembered the latter part of that verse, the part we all have memorized, but isn't the first half very interesting. Are we willing to work hard to help someone else? Or are we so concerned with helping ourselves that we can't find the time to be a blessing to someone else. If you've never tried it, I dare you. Giving is its own reward.

Oh, needless to say I did not make it to the gym this week, but I did wear my ankle weights. So technically every step was a work out.

Rebounding From The Holidays

What's on your mind...

Yes, the holidays are over and it's time to get back on track.
That homemade Macaroni and Cheese, Red Velvet Cake or Sweet
Potato Pie was delicious, but it can't be a part of our daily
meal plan if we're serious about our weight loss. It's time
to create a 2010 Menu.

Realistically speaking even if we are committed to loosing the
extra pounds we will have some sweets, but having them in small
quantities on rare occasions is the healthy approach. There are
many ways to address this, I try to reserve certain foods for the
weekend only, this gives me five days to make good progress. Now
I am not giving myself permission to undo everything I did during
the week, my portions and choices have to be 'game plan sensible'.

So, the holidays are over and hopefully we had an enjoyable one,
but now it's time to get our priorities back in order. We are
more important that cheese cake. Our long term health is ranked
higher then bread and butter. Let's prepare to unwrap that last
gift in 2010, YOU!

Something Came Up, Realizing Your Weight Loss Resolution in 2010

What's on your mind...

Another year another weight loss resolution. Year after year
the pattern continues, in January we're going strong,
watching what we eat, exercising, drinking plenty of
water and getting an adequate amount of rest. We are proud of
the effort we're making, and there are noticeable results.
We are on track to becoming healthier and fit.

However, by March or maybe even February something happens.
That something has a major affect on us ever achieving our
weight loss resolution. For years we have allowed something
to ship wreck our plans of getting in shape. It's typically
the same something every year, but it always takes us by
surprise and we wake-up months later wondering what happened.
Well, something happened... again.

In order to make this year different, a year of victory and
not remorse, we have to plan for something. We first have to
determine or admit what our something is. Then draft a plan
to deal with something when it comes up. The thought behind
drafting a plan is to have the flexibility to make changes as
needed. Not allowing ourselves that flexibility in the past and
respond to changing circumstances could be the very reason our
plan have failed repeatedly. We can no longer allow something
to sink our ship.

Somethings can include(but are not limited to) the following:
change in routine, a bad day/week. reaching a plateau, boredom,
getting disillusioned, or cake. Well, look at it this way, if
something comes up on our job we handle it, if something comes
up in our family we handle it. In fact, most women take pride
in being able to handle many situations at one time, we have
a name for it, multitasking. Well this year we are going to handle
our drafted plan to loose the weight and become the healthier
person we strive to be.

Now that we have determined our possible somethings, what
are we going to do about it? When our schedule changes, maybe
there is an event or project that changes our routine, respond.
Workout earlier or later that day/week. When we are tempted to
skip a scheduled workout, push ourselves to make time for it. We
make time for everyone else, let's make time for ourselves.
Even if we have to adjust the workout place, time or duration.
Do something.

Let's face it after January the thought of sticking to the plan is
not so appealing. Often, the thought of just giving up crosses our
mind more that we want to admit. When we find ourselves tired of
our new routine, we have to do something. Adjust our thinking,
this is not a diet or a short adventure, we are on a journey.
It could take a while, be filled with peaks and valleys, but the
end result is worth it.

Oh, and when our something is cake, enjoy it!! If we don't address
our temptations they will eventually push us to jump ship. It's
when we beat ourselves up for having it, we give up and eat the
whole thing, that's when we are really in trouble. So cake came
up, hopefully we enjoyed it and we are ready to get back on track.

This is not a short excursion but a life long journey, we can make
2010 the year we meet our goal. Create your plan, and be prepared for
something to come up.