Hi. Me again. Just popping in randomly before I head off to campus. Being so busy over the weekend, I had no opportunity to do any exercising. Thankfully, the Lord allowed me to make up for that today. Getting in my steps ...
As well as enjoying a few chin ups ...
Lord willing, in just 4 and a half months I'll be back in Waikiki with my surfboard. Now if that isn't motivation to work out!
Did you know that our actions in life are always compelled by some good we want to attain? The question is: which good? Shall we give into the tyranny of the urgent? Or are we able to see a higher goal in the future, sometimes way in the future? Inevitably, the good we will possess later is better than the one we can have right now.
That's why we exercise. The benefits come from denying our pressing desire to enjoy ourselves this very minute, though, of course, many of the good consequences of a healthy lifestyle are immediately evident: more energy, weight loss, improved productivity at work, etc. Other good results of exercise, however, aren't so readily apparent. You have to believe in benefits you can't see.
Thankfully, there is a scientific way to get the most years and mileage out of the body God gave us. Our only excuse is ignorance. We sell ourselves short, we narrow our horizons, we forfeit our goals, we settle for a mundane passing grade in life. But for the believer who is learning to number his days (do I have one year or 20 years left?), exercise becomes progressively more urgent. There's no time for dilly-dallying. Each and every day requires its own prodding.
Running in long races and climbing tall mountains and surfing luscious waves have made this whole subject plain to me. My goals suddenly put urgent demands on my body. The race becomes me against me. In the third century BC, Greeks spent an hour every day in the gymnasium. You don't necessarily have to do the same thing. Go with what works for you. Just exercise. Exercise = health. Period. Here's what I look like now in case you forgot. I'm not exactly where I want to be but it's not where I used to be.
Friend, start doing what's good for you, be it going to bed early or cooking your own meals. You will quickly realize that what you love to do as an exerciser will quickly become the lifestyle you know you should have adopted in the first place.
Keep a positive mindset and know that whatever difficulty you're facing is temporary.
Adjust your expectations when you have to.
Keep your head up and your eyes focused on Jesus.
That's about it.