Out of Shape

On this first Monday of 2010, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Yep, I checked off all my to-dos and did the things that any good girl should do to kick off a new year.

I started back on my nutritional eating plan by eating a white egg omelet with tomatoes and some cottage cheese; got the kids to school on time; came home and worked out for an hour; did some housework; and read todays Bible reading; and the rest of the day I plan to work on some ministry work that I have let slip over the holidays.

Although these are simple things that I typically do, what I realized was that I was sorely out of shape in doing all of them, and as a result, they took a lot more effort than usual.

You see, as most people do over the holidays, I let my desire for yummy goodies and delicious casseroles outweigh my focus on healthy eating habits. I didnt have to take anyone to school for two weeks so I could stay in bed a while longer than usual in the mornings. I was too busy to do my exercise each morning because I had too much shopping and other fun stuff to do. And it was hard to set aside time to focus on Gods Word daily while the kids were home and the overall busyness of the season consumed my attention.

So when I went to do all those things this morning with great intentions,honestly, it was kind of hard! I realized that everything took extra effort, from getting up when the alarm sounded, to finding the energy to get through my workout, to making myself sit down and have my quiet time.

I realized I was out of shape in every area!

I know that as each day passes this week, each thing will get easier and my normal routine will soon fall back into place. But my point this morning, is that I have been reminded that when we let things slip, there are consequences.

If we sleep in, its harder to get up early when we have to. If we dont excercise, we lose stamina and gain pounds. If we dont spend time with God each day, we forget to seek His guidance and may stumble in our faith walk.

I have given a lot of thought to what my New Years resolutions would be this year. I have gone back and forth about the things that I hope to accomplish this year and self improvement areas. But the result I came to after all that thought and prayer, was that I have decided not to make any resolutions.

Instead, I have decided to be more committed to the things that are important in my life, and to the things that I feel God sees are important. Not that personal goals are not important, because they are crucial to success in every area of our life, but sometimes I think we get caught up making surface level, tangible goals, instead of goals that will impact our heart, our life, and the lives of others.

So, rather than setting a weight loss or clothes size goal for myself this year, I am committing to continuing my exercise and eating plan each day, and remembering that I am Gods temple, however, allowing myself some grace when I fail.

I am committing to being the best wife and mom that I can be, trying to be a Godly example, and always making my family my top priority, however, allowing myself some grace when I fail.

I am committing to focus on my speaking and writing ministry, continually striving for growth and improvement, and embrace opportunities to walk through any new doors that God opens, however, allowing myself some grace when I fail.

And lastly, I am committing to read the Bible in its entirety this year, however, allowing myself some grace when I fall short of my goal.

I am looking forward to living out each day with these goals in mind, but I am especially excited about reading the whole Bible! I have always wanted to, but never felt like I could do it, but God has placed in me such a desire to not only know His Word better, but to extract life applications and guidance that I have missed out on before, that I believe that He will help me be thirsty for His Word and meet my goal by years end.

My husband and I are both partnering with my good friend and fellow P31 sister Wendy, who is leading a one year class at our church on this one-year Chronological Bible study, but also offers an online study on her blog with comments each day about the daily reading. Its a great way to keep ourselves accountable, and further motivate us to keep striving for the goal. Plus I am looking forward to sharing what God speaks to my heart each week with all of you!

Can you imagine how amazing we will feel, if this time next year, January 2011, we can honestly say that we have read the entire Bible?! Not for purposes of bragging,and not just so we can say we actually read all those pages, but because our faith walk, and our dependency on God will be at a level that we never experienced before - and that is something to be excited about! If you want to join us on this journey, just click here.

Maybe you have recognized that you are out of shape physically, and made a resolution to get in better shape this year. Is it possible you might be out of shape with God too? If so, this is a great new years resolution to work on - getting back into faith shape! Trust me, once you realize that you are at a different level of faith through your commitment to spending daily time with God, it will be far more satisfying than anything your scale could tell you.

And remember - whatever your goals/resolutions are - allow yourself some grace when you fail, and dont give up! We all fall short of the glory of God, and fall short of our own expectations, but if we pick ourselves up and start over again, even if time and time again, God will reward our efforts and our commitment, and walk beside us as we strive to be the person we desire to be.

Happy new year!

(If you want to purchase the One Year Chronological Bible, click on the link. You can also get a daily reading schedule here and use your regular Bible if preferred.)