Tuesday, June 14, 2011

#193 - WORK IT!

Good morning! It seems like quite the active morning here on my porch! Birds have been playfully and loudly playing and dancing in our backyard and I have shooed 2 lizards off of the screened in porch where I am sitting. I'm not "scared" of lizards or anything, but one of them sat on the screen just a few feet from where I am sitting, and that was just weird. He didn't make for a good "working companion" so I helped him out. :)

On another note.... it's a BEAUTIFUL morning! There's a nice breeze coming through the screen, and Tyler Junior is officially 19 months old today! Wow! He's just months away from being a big brother and turning 2 years old! How fun!

Well... let's get rolling into some Word this morning! :)
Proverbs 14:30 - A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.
Proverbs 31:17 - She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task] and makes her arms strong and firm.
Spiritual fitness. Mental fitness. Physical fitness. All areas of fitness that we should aspire to attain. One thing that I feel tremendously helps in the areas of spiritual & mental fitness is having a regular quiet time. Taking specific, set apart time to read the Word, meditate on the Word, and quiet ourselves long enough to listen to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord that Jesus knew what He was doing when He said that He was leaving us to be with the Father, BUT that He would leave something better for us, He would leave the Holy Spirit. What a blessing and honor that we are NEVER alone as believers, but are always just a question away from receiving direction from the Holy Spirit. What a blessing that the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, always available, always there, always willing to direct us if we are willing to listen. How exciting that the "hidden secrets" are not indefinitely hidden, just hidden for those who are willing to seek after them and find and receive them. They are there for US to have! Amen!

Spiritual and mental fitness. Available if we are willing to consistently pursue it.

Physical fitness. Eich.... Yikes. Well, I like maybe some of you have a bag of excuses I sometimes carry for my lack of consistency in this area. My most recent excuse in my bag has been "pregnancy." OK... it may be a good excuse, but really, at any time, any excuse will do. Right? Maybe you've been pretty consistent in this area. Well, at 24 weeks pregnant (around 6 months for those of you who don't speak the 'pregnancy' language), I officially stopped running about 2 weeks ago. It had gotten sporadic at best, and my last run left me kind of sore. I ambitiously thought I would go buy a running belt, but never got around to it. Then on Friday morning, I decided to swim laps for 20 minutes. I also did some push-ups and dips. I was quite proud of myself. (I also woke up and did that this morning! Whoop! Go me! haha!) Over the last 2-3 years, having knowledge about a 10 minute fitness program called "4321" has really changed my life in the area of my weight and fitness. It also extremely reduced some of the risk factors that I had for Type 2 Diabetes, results in blood work proved I had made some awesome improvements just by changing a few things in my life. One of those things was 10 minutes of working out just four days per week.

Recently, I have noticed that the firmness of my arms that I had developed over the last 2 years had been getting a bit "weak." My once small, but bulging bicep wasn't quite so perky. I knew that I hadn't really done a done to give myself toned muscles, but what I had done was consistently applied effort to have strong and firm arms. What is consistent effort? Where my arms were concerned, it was only 3 minutes, 4 days per week! That was it! 3 MINUTES! The key was, it was consistent. Over a period of time, the flab that hung onto my arms began to turn into muscle. It was quite exciting to see. In the mirror, I noticed that my shoulders were looking nice in a tank top. That was enough to continue the small but daily steps I had began.

So today... can you implement something small for your fitness? You may not care to look like the cover model on today's "Health & Fitness" magazine, and that is OK! But.... maybe take a few minutes to reflect on this question.... What is your responsibility in the area of fitness? Like me, you may have some excuses in your bag as well, but at the end of the day that is all they are, excuses. It may not mean getting a gym membership, but can you do three minutes a day just to tone your arms? Can you do squats or sit-ups to tone your legs and abs? Simple things that will allow you to live a much longer & energetic life.

The "Fitness" tab will give you some ideas on 10 minutes that WILL really work for you, if you consistently work it! The Proverbs 31 woman is working it, will you?

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