Well, here I am again. It seems like a never ending struggle. I’m using an old, new tool…
weight watchers.
This time I’m doing it at home, on line. Its so much more convenient this way. No meetings. No publicly humiliating weigh-ins. Just me, my computer and the scales. I prefer it this way, really. I can do my weigh-in unfettered by unnecessary clothing items, first thing in the morning before I’ve eaten any breakfast… It’s my way of setting aside the extra weight.
I’ve had success with weight watchers before… But after three babies I find myself needing to work at loosing more weight. again. Its hard work, there is no doubt, but well worth it. It requires careful eating habits and exercise.
Oh. Is that all?
Being the mother of three young children is much easier without carrying around the extra pounds. I’m looking forward to not being winded after chasing Mackenzie up and down the yard. There is something to be said for playing hard at the park with my kiddos without being so red-faced and out of breath that on-lookers wonder if they should call paramedics… Yes. I want to be fit and healthy again.
Whenever I begin down this path, watching the weight that is hindering my earthly body, I’m challenged to look at other weight. Daily, I walk around encumbered with “stuff.” I carry with me worries, struggles, burdens, heartache, bad habits and any other number of intangible, but terribly heavy weights.
Why do I lug these things around? Well, its simple. Its just like my physical weight. The longer I carry it all around, the more I forget what it is like to be without it. Sometimes it seems comfortable to haul it with me. Sometimes it seems easier than the work it will take to set it down.
Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us this way:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Let it go. Lay it down. Take it off. Get rid of it. Put it away. Dump it.
Hebrews doesn’t say that its a cinch. It doesn’t say its no trouble. It doesn’t say once you do it, its all done. Instead it warns me: it says that sin can easily get the best of us, so I have to be vigilant. But, it says that Jesus endured the cross, He finished His race. And because of that work on the cross, that means I can have victory too; if I patiently run, if I can somehow get rid of all of the junk I’m carrying around. Really its similar to my physical journey of weight-loss. It requires consistent habits of spending time with the Lord, exercising my walk with Him and consuming Scripture rather than the world’s junk.
Heavenly Father, Help me to be a weight watcher. Give me the strength to find and set aside these burdens that fetter my heart, keeping me from running the race that is ahead. Allow me to lay them down so that my journey is everything that you have intended for me. And, if You will, help me each day as I continue my weight-loss program, physically and spiritually. I know that you desire success for me in both ways. Thank you for being so good to me.
amen.
daily portion 