IDareToHope

Count the Milestones. See the Growth.

Hey folks.
Has it been a while since you’ve changed up your routine to add in something good for you? Or maybe you’re two weeks in on your New Year’s Resolution and wishing desperately to quit?
Don’t quit. And don’t give up pursuing healthy habits. But while pursuing physical, mental, and emotional health, don’t forget to pursue the giver of life Himself, our Father God.

He’s the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the BreaTH of Life, the Light of the World. Let him be your source of life, strength, hope, and love. Everything else will pass away, but God does not!

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

I read a quote recently by Annie Dillard, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” I sat on the couch this last November 2021, looking across my living room at my bookshelves of excellent missionaries’ biographies, systematic theology, spiritual discipline, Bible studies, and other various Christian non-fiction books. I realized the number of those books I have finished is actually very low. They look great on my shelves and portray an outward sense of who I would like to be, but not currently who I am.

At that moment in November, my once-weekly exercise self-commitment had just been canceled indefinitely. I thought to myself, “Is that it, then? Is that the end of ‘healthy’ choices, until the instructor plans to restart class?” I knew the answer had to be “no.” I couldn’t depend on others to help me make my own healthy choices. How I currently spent my days was not how I wanted to spend my life. Uh oh!

But how do we get from where we are now to where we would like to be? I’m sure there are thousands of self-help books that offer answers to this question. But the best place to find answers is in God’s Word, the Bible. Sometimes when I don’t know where to read, I go back to the book of Romans – specifically chapters 5-8. It’s the buildup of surrender, salvation and then sanctification; the death of our fleshly desires and pursuit of life through God’s Spirit.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Romans 8:12-14

Sometimes I “motivationally interview” myself… asking what goals I’d like to have, or where I would like to be, or how I would like to “spend my life.” What steps do I have to take to get there, what barriers might be in my way? And what is currently stopping me?
When I applied this process to a goal of physical health… my biggest barriers were my own fears.
– Fear of judgement of my body by others
– Fear of being too big to actually use the gym exercise machines
– Fear of failing at my own plans and being a quitter
– Fear of injuring myself
– Fear of my actions not actually making a difference in the number on the scale

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.”

Attributed to both D.L. Moody and Francis Chan

He must become greater, I must become less.

John the Baptist, in reference to Jesus Christ. John 3:30

Yesterday was my 20th visit to the gym to “workout.” This is an activity I had always told myself I would never do, because of my own insecurities. Who was standing in my way? Just me.
I’m thankful for God’s strength to build new habits, make healthier choices, and grow in my pursuit of Christ.

Friends, I write all this not to *toot my own horn* about mini-successes. I write this to remind myself of “my why,” and perhaps to encourage one of you to evaluate how you spend your day and to compare it to how you would like to spend your life.
What are you letting stand in the way of your pursuit of GOD’s desires for your life? ♥