Time seriously flies! I cannot believe it's already been 2 months since I last blogged, my goal was to blog every week and I am kicking myself for not sticking to that, but life happens, and the good news is I am not quitting! So there, small victory :)
Summer is my favorite season and the official first day is saturday! Summer means a lot of happy things: watermelon, picnics, beach trips, warm weather, pool time, lake trips, bright colors, flip flops...oh I could go on for days! I love summer. But as summer comes there is this whole thing about getting ready for "swim suit season", and with that comes a lot of fears, anxieties and crazy diets. So I wanted to talk about fitness in this post but with a different spin on it then maybe we are used to. I'll try to keep things short, but I'm really passionate about this topic so if I get long winded, forgive me, and KEEP READING...I really want you all to get this :)
I think it is SO important that we not only have knowledge of the fact that God has created us fearfully and wonderfully (hence the name of this blog), but that we also live that out! The Message version of the Bible puts it this way, "...I thank you, High God- you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration- what a creation! You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; you know exactly how I was made, bit by bit..." did you catch all of that? Tell me that doesn't just make you stand still for a second, in total amazement that God has especially crafted Every. Single. One. Of us! I don't think we celebrate this enough. The fact that though we are humans, in desperate need of the rescue from a Savior, we are still the Lord's creation, we are wonderful simply and solely because we were crafted by the hands of the Perfect Artist, Himself. Oh my goodness!
So this all may seem a little off-topic of the fitness post I promised, but I needed to give this background information in your minds before getting to the nitty gritty. In a world that is so image obsessed, it's easy to get caught up the in the craze of trying to keep up with the latest and greatest. We need the latest fashion trend, the latest shoe fad, the most expensive purse we can find, even the brand of makeup we use determines how good we are at keeping up with the Jones'. It can be completely exhausting with things coming in and going out in the blink of an eye, and then there are the body image trends....most recently "the thigh gap". To even think about it makes me furious. We treat our body's like they are a fashion trend when really they are created in the image of the Sovereign God (I'll remind you to read the paragraph above, again). And with the pressure to look like everyone else, we often find ourselves in the gym, on a diet, juicing, fasting, etc. We treat exercise and fitness like something we need because we aren't good enough. Ick.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe exercise and a healthy life-style are absolutely necessary, after all I did say this would be a fitness post; and I am not saying that I have not found myself in the trap of striving after what the media deems as 'good'. What I am saying is this, we have the wrong perspective, people. The most important part of fitness, is a healthy perspective on what Christ has given us, so before we can get physically strong, we must first strengthen ourselves spiritually. Exercise shouldn't be something we participate in to change ourselves (sure there is always room to get a little healthier but thats another issue), it's not something we should get into with the attitude of "if I can just fix this then I'll fit in better." What exercise and healthy living should be, is an act of worship and thanksgiving to God. Thank Him for the body, soul, and mind He marvelously created for you to live in...you've only got one. Worship Him through your healthy eating habits and exercise knowing that you are using that one body to get strong in order that you might be able to accomplish the good work He has for you in the best way possible.
So, consider this our pre-workout warm up...tomorrow I am coming at you with a 30-day fitness challenge! Keep an eye out, and get ready ;)
