I love to eat. Hasn't always been that way, but once I was out of childhood, I really started to get the whole food-is-good thing! All throughout my teens, into my twenties and even thirties, I could eat and eat and eat, and never gain a pound! Now? Well, now in my forties is a very different story... One that eerily parallels to my spiritual walk.
We have all heard the saying, "You get out what you put in." When you are used to eating whatever and whenever you want, that comes to fruition rather quickly and alarmingly once middle age hits. What I was used to putting in during my youthful years was tons of sugar, processed flour and red meat. What I am now getting out of that is thicker thighs, a muffin top and general roundness in all as-pects! I have to modify my diet drastically before I turn into two-ton Tilly and that takes discipline. Discipline I frankly don't have from years of being very, well - undisciplined.
God is much the same way in my life. For a very long time I was not a Christian and I was not disciplined. I didn't have the slightest clue what my spirit needed to keep my heart tied to my Lord and to help me on the path of becoming more and more like Christ. Once I became a Christian I didn't immediately become disciplined either. I had to work at it - I have to exercise!
If there are two very distinct things I dislike in this life they are dieting and exercising. Dieting is an act of discipline and a denying of one's personal desires and comfort. Exercise is also an act of discipline and it takes practice, coordination and persistence. When I deny my tongue the delight of ice cream or potato chips, my body begins to thank me by not taking on the shape of apples, pears or any other fruity shape not befitting a woman. When I exercise my body also thanks me by doing lots of things, not all of them readily viewable on a scale, including toning my muscles, revving up my metabolism and strengthening my heart.
With our bodies we can often see physical results of our efforts. We view what we put on our dinner plates and we watch the scale and the mirror for results. How do we know when we spiritually diet and exercise what to look for and how to tone up? Take a look and see if any of this sounds familiar...
I diet spiritually when I keep my mind free from television shows that aren't appropriate viewing for my Christian self. I diet when I deny my anger and my "right" to feel mistreated and abused. I diet when I decide to do for others before I do for me. It isn't easy. Dieting never is. It is an act of my will to diet and keep myself from the things that give me pleasure if only for a short time. Like nutrition for the body, feeding my soul is a lifestyle change and a choice I will have to make for a lifetime, not something I can do on a weekend, or just until I get to my goal. I have to continue to make the decision to deny my earthly flesh those things that once satisfied me but now are just empty calories taking up valuable real-estate in my heart.
Putting in the good stuff is also a part of my diet. In place of the sugary snacks I now choose real food for my soul. I choose instead to fill my tank with the Word of God, television that uplifts, and time with my kids playing games. In place of the emptiness of my old habits I now have a fullness that produces in me a sweetness that is truer to who God desires me to be. I know that feeling of loss for a moment when we decide to give up something that we once held so dear, and trust me it is a struggle I still fall victim to on occasion. But just like any other diet, don't throw it all to the wind if you fail. Simply ask for forgiveness and start again. It takes time to develop habits that last a lifetime, but the reward is crucial. It can save your life.
Exercise is a necessary extension of our dieting and similarly is not an easy task to undertake. Exercise takes practice, a repetitive motion that eventually becomes like muscle memory that we do almost without thinking. Like remembering to say "thank you" when we were children, now we are tasked with remembering not to say too much as adults. Exercising our prayer muscles instead of our doing muscles when things don't go our way. Exercising our smiles when we really want to just throw ourselves in the dirt and tantrum like a toddler.
Exercise is a habit that takes a good amount of coordination too. We cannot constantly be tripping over our "rights" if we are trying to exercise our love of others. We have to time our desires with the desires and will of God, or we will land flat on our faces in the mud puddle of sin, rather shamefaced and hurting.
While exercise can be painful, it produces in us a beauty and healthful heart attitude that diet alone cannot deliver. Exercise is a hand-in-hand partner with our diet. It produces the real fruit, but only if we stick to it. We have to be persistent in our exercise routine and we have to change it up when we get stagnant. We are to be continually checking in with our Head Trainer to make sure we are on the right regimen and that we haven't slipped in our push to sweat it out.
Just as I have struggled with a way to find a quick fix for my physical form, there is no valid short cut with my spiritual body either. I have to put in the time, the good nutrition and I have to be unfailingly consistent in order to see results. Diet pills and arrow prayers may work for a short time, but in the long run if I want lasting results I have to make lasting changes. Exercise your spiritual muscles and cut out the empty calories, those are changes that will last and your heart will thank you for it!
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