During a phone conversation on Monday with my twin sister (gotta love her), she told me that she thought working out was my Idol. Insert a major gasp here and complete DENIAL! Yes, I was on the river.... surfing down the river, and definitely not willing to step on dry land.
And like with many planted seeds, God started to water it. She asked me a couple of questions:
1. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
2. What is the thought that consumes you the most during the day?
3. What is the last thing you think about as you are drifting off?
WOW! I wasn't ready to admit the answers, in fact, I huffed and puffed and quickly got off the phone with her... I was... angry and she was RIGHT!
My answers:
1. I think about when I am going to work out, run, swim... how I can get it in.
2. If I haven't worked out or run, I try to figure out how I can get it in. If I have already done it, I think about the next workout, race, plan, supplies... etc.
3. I think about my workout of the day, how I could have improved it, what I need to do about the next workout... etc.
CLEARLY, I'm obsessed.... and well, I admit it openly. Am I going to stop working out for Lent? No, I do not think that was where my sister was trying to get me to go! Here is my plan:
1. I plan to start each day in God's word.... before my workout. That means even if I wake up at 3:30 am and cannot go back to sleep, instead of meeting Tony (P90X) or Milles (treadmill), I am going to spend time with God - FIRST! How? Well, I picked up a new devotional... it shall help me focus and dig deeper into the Word.
2. I am going to consciously plan out a prayer time and a meditation time EVERYDAY!
3. And as I am drifting off to sleep, I am going to specifically concentrate on thanking God for blessings, challenges, EVERYTHING!
And this will be tough. 40 days of focusing on God to help me remove my Idol of working out. I KNOW I can do it because God is on my side... but I humbly ask you to join me in prayer as I refocus my attention!
Are you giving up something for Lent? Are you adding something for Lent?
7 comments:
Don't you just hate it when your siblings are right? lol Seriously though, congratulations on your decision. I KNOW how much your faith means to you, and I hope Lent will serve whatever purpose you need it to.
That sounds like a wonderful lent plan to me! I'll be keeping you my prayers :)
praying for you! it will be exciting to see how God uses this time and how you will keep it up and CRAVE it!
What better way to spend time with God than to be out on an easy morning run, with no phones, PC's or any other disturbances...
well I am thankful that I followed Gods leading to say something to you.. I think that this can only make you stronger....Physically and mentally. I love you.....
I'm looking forward to reading about all the things that God shows you during your devotion time this Lent.
I'm working on eating better this Lent... mostly by giving up chocolate and getting more fruits and veggies and less bread/carbs in my diet. I'm also giving up running, but that's more of a necessity because my right knee is still bugging me.
Many of us are in this same boat with you. But I think that many could answer those same questions with their family...as in they are thinking of the family and the responsiblities they have to fill for them. No one would think that they were obessed if they answered those questions that way. So while I am thinking of running/workouts quite often in my day, I am also trying to find ways that my workout time takes less time from family togetherness. Those thoughts go hand-in-hand for me.
I do like you ideas though of purposfully making time for my devotions. I often just squeeze it in almost as an after thought. (bad shelly bad shelly)
Thanks for the reminder to keep it all in balance.
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