No, that is not me, but it will be! I am determined to get back to the gym once again! 

The Struggle is Real

Anyone who knows me will not be shocked to learn that I do not like to sweat, get dirty, or do anything that can be labeled as cardio. My mind works in high gear all of the time - my body, not so much. Over the years, I have tried guilting - I mean motivating - myself to exercise in various ways. Here are a couple of those motivators. Can you relate to either of them?

• Exercise is important for your health:  This is a valid one. The problem I have with this motivation is that even my doctor agrees I am one of the healthiest people to ever walk in her office. My bloodwork is almost perfect. Cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, etc. are all fine (don't hate me). I see women half my size who are pre-diabetic and I know it has to be more about DNA than exercise, so not a great motivator for me. 

•  Scripture: There are several scriptures I have heard quoted by different people in support of exercise. One is Romans 12:1:  "I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Another is 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

First, let me say that maybe I should feel some level of conviction from these verses for not exercising, but I don't - zero/zilch. Believe me when I say I know what conviction feels like. It is like a dark cloud that descends over me. The longer I dismiss it, the louder the voice gets in my head, and a sense of dread grows darker and deeper until I repent and surrender to what I know the Holy Spirit is telling me to do or not do. I have actually prayed that I would feel conviction over it so I would not be able to ignore it! You guessed it - still nothing!

Secondly, I am just not convinced that exercising our bodies was the main purpose for either of these passages. There is definitely a way to tie it in that I believe is biblical, but I don't see it as a real mandate from God to exercise. I am absolutely NOT a Bible scholar, so I could definitely be wrong. When I read these scriptures in context and look at different  commentaries, it seems that these are talking about something more important than just exercising my body. In David Guzik's commentary on Romans 12 (Blue Letter Bible), he says it is best to see the word 'body' as a reference to our entire being - spirit, soul, flesh, and mind. As for 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, it really seems to speak more about sexual purity than physical activity. Right or wrong, Scripture has not been a great motivator for me. 

So what is my motivator? I recognize that God created us as beings who are meant to be active. I know that if I want to continue to be mobile as I age, I have to move. It is that simple. I believe God still has work for me to do, and I want to be up to the task. I got started in the gym several months ago for the ??? time, and it felt GOOD! I hate walking, I don’t do sports, I am too lazy to exercise at home, but I LOVE the gym. There is something about being there with my headphones on, my music playing, and the surge of power I feel when I am using those machines that makes me feel good. I got sick, and it took me a good six to eight weeks to get over it. By that time I had lost my motivation and forgotten that awesome feeling, BUT I am ready to try again. Even though I don’t feel any conviction for not exercising, I do know that I need to do it in order to give God my best and to keep the body He has given me mobile and as pain free as possible. 

This is not a weight loss journey for me. I know that big or small, I am a Child of the King, and He loves me JUST AS I AM. There is no future version of me (or you) that He will love more. Will you join me in doing something to move your body just because it is good for us? Let’s check in with each other on our Facebook page next week and see how we did!