Tied To Being Fit

Being pregnant and giving birth 13 times means I have went through the gain weight, lose weight cycle......LOTS!!!! One of the most important things I have learned through this journey is FOCUS and BALANCE.

I am always amazed after Christmas how all the "weight loss and fitness" kicks start. Like clockwork....every year! But this year I've paid attention to something different....the attitude behind most of it. And what I have noticed is the meism....and to be even bolder....the worship of self-image.

Don't get me wrong. I am all for staying fit and eating healthy. I believe that is the way God intended it to be. I don't necessarily agree with the way people "get fit and eat healthy" though. Mark and I always joke and say..."imagine if you would take all those people who go work out at the gym and bring them to a farm to do manual labor instead...WOW!!! How much work we could get accomplished!!!!" Such wasted energy....don't send me hate mail....just sayin' :)

In my life I have learned that if my focus is in the wrong place, staying fit and eating healthy can quickly become an idol in my life. I have also learned that I need to be real careful anytime I decide to "get back on track". Careful to not let it consume me.

God should be the center of my life....always and in every area. This includes the area of health and fitness. But I have found this is so much easier said than done. For God to be the center in this area means I need do it His way.

What is His way????? A focus and a desire to please and honor God. I find that the times I am most dissatisfied with my weight and eating is the times when I loose focus....focus on the One Who created me. When my focus in not on Him my motives become prideful and selfish.

It doesn't take me long to realize when my focus has gotten in the wrong place because weight gain and fitness becomes the center of my thoughts and they dictate my actions.  Rather than dealing with the issues behind my weight gain, I try to put a band-aid on it by some quick fixin healthy eating and exercise.  And guess what? I do well for awhile and then inevitably....I FAIL...and fall back into the same pattern as before.

What are some of the underlying issues? Lack of Self-control would be a big one!!! Being able to say no to a cookie when I am not hungry...and yes to exercise when my flesh is weak. DisContentment would be another one. Contentment for the way God made me. Contentment for the "baby fat".  Not Trusting is right up there to. When I am in a stressful situation...I tend to eat more and exercise less...and this just adds to my stress. Rather I need to be able to deal with stress...by trusting. If my heart is truly trusting God...I will be able to handle stress...I will be able to give it over to Him. Of course there are many more underlying issues, but these are probably the ones I struggle with most.

But when I keep God as the centre of my weight loss journey, that's when the weight comes off the easiest and stays off!!! If I am losing weight for my own selfish desires....I loose focus and my balance becomes all out of whack....I am more apt to try the next diet fad...or weight loss gimick....or the perfect exercise program. But when I do it because I want to be the person God created me to be...the results are amazing!!! In these times I am NOT consumed by foods and excercise...rather I AM consumed with pleasing HIM!!!! And it really becomes a heart thing rather than a physical thing. And this is where I'd rather be. The results are longer lasting and much more gratifying. And my focus is where it should be....on the ONE who gave me this body in the first place!!!

And then I am no longer tied to being fit....but rather tied to honoring and pleasing my Creator...God Himself!

So I challenge you. If you are on a journey of weight loss...or weight maintaining....where is your FOCUS? Are you BALANCED? Is your desire to please and honor God CONSUMING you?

Chicky Sticken, Sticky Chicken

When I first wrote this post I challenged you to say Chicky Sticken 5 times. What I meant to say was Chicky Sticken, Sticky Chicken 5 times.

Brookie loves her Daddy!

They do lots of crazy things together.....mostly at the dinner table.

They laugh lots, they talk silly, they come up with crazy rhymes, they make funny faces.....

She follows him like a shadow when he is working on the yard.

She will spend hours on a tractor just to be around him.

But lately Brookie and Daddy have had a dilemma.

Daddy (the master of nick names) and for awhile has called her 'Beautiful Brookie'

Then just recently (probably somewhat to do with the 'interesting hair-dos' she sports throughout the day, depending on the weather :), he has called her 'Curly Sue'.

Brookie

But for some reason Brookie has protested to being called 'Curly Sue', instead she wanted to steal her little sister's nick name...Fluffy?!?!?

and Daddy jokingly argued back and forth over this issue for weeks (you guessed it, mostly at the dinner table)

Finally one day, tired of the arguing (hee, hee) Daddy decided that he would give this little girl a choice of two nick names. This should settle it once and for all.

So at the table one day Daddy came up with the ultimatum.....it's either 'Curly Sue' or.......'Sticky Chicken'!!!! But...... Brookie still insisted on being called her little sister's name..... 'Fluffy'.

Well Daddy then decided he would choose between the two names on his own.........and so the nickname was......You guessed it.....Sticky Chicken :)

After being called this a few days, Brookie said to her Daddy one day....'You can call me Curly Sue'!!!! And he does (sometimes :)....and they laugh....and they still have fun at the dinner table.

Now little sister seeing all the fun wanted to join in and when Daddy called her 'Fluffy' she said, "No, I'm Chicky Sticken"!

Well then Daddy got an idea that everyone should try to say Chicky Sticken, Sticky Chicken

5 times...fast. And guess what...no one could do it....maybe once or twice....but definitely not 5 and definitely not quickly!!!!

So here's a Pauls' challenge for you. Can you say Chicky Sticken, Sticky Chicken 5 times in a row really fast? If you can....we will put you down in our books of 'most talented one'!!!!

There.....now you know a bit of what can go on around our dinner table :)