Healthy Living

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"I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE GOOD
THAT WILL COME FROM THIS"
By Sandra K. Gibbs-Bouie



As I sat on my red, plaid couch, I peered over at the huge mechanical exercise walker that had taken up space in the corner of my small living room. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon. There is no way I'm going to get on that thing now, I thought to myself. I shuffled past it quickly on my way to the bathroom. All I wanted to do was to lie around on my day off from work.

"Mom, I thought you were going to start your exercise routine this Saturday?" asks my inquisitive fifteen-year-old son.

I glared at him for having the nerve to ask. "Not today Tony, I'm bushed."

As I had been the day before, and the day before that and all the rest of the month. Tony shook his head, as if to say I told you so, and turned his attention to the TV.

It has been almost 3 months since my cousin had given me the exercise walker and I had only used it twice. The day it arrived for 3 minutes and a 1-minute show-off performance for my best friend Vanessa, who stopped by last week.

Most of the time I would just stare at it from the couch, saying to myself, that I would climb on it tomorrow. Tomorrow would come and tomorrow would leave. The large machine sat like a foreign object taking up valuable space in my small cramped little home.

I knew I had to lose the extra 50 pounds that I had put on in the last year. Also I was becoming increasingly tired and fatigue at work. Being a working mother, always on the go, meals were fast and delicious, but short on nutrition.

On top of that, we were beginning to be well known at the local fast-food restaurant in the neighborhood.

Tony looked up from the T.V. and gave me another nod.

Knowing what he really wanted to say, I commented first, "I'm going to do this, you watch and see. I am going to lose all 50 pounds and look like a million bucks. You'll see, all things work together for good."

After giving Tony, this great pep talk, my momentum suddenly died down. "I just can't do it today, the rain outside is making me sleepy," I said, mumbling my last words.

Tony turned his gaze toward the TV, once again. "I can't wait to see the good that will come from this! he snickered with his hand on mouth.

I caught the remark "I heard that smarty pants!" Ignoring him, I continued toward my bedroom. As I lay on the bed thinking about what Tony had said. A bible verse kept hitting my mind - All things work together for good.

Using the short version, I continued saying it repeatedly. "All things work together for good...All things work together for good.... All things work...

For some dumb reason, the word "work" kept getting stuck in my mouth and I began saying "Work it out, work it out."

Then a very dim light bulb begins flashing in my head. Nothing can work this out, if I don't get up from here and work it out on my own. Slowly I returned to the living room climbing on the exerciser and began pedaling. Much to my son's surprise, I cycled for a good 15 minutes.

"See I told you all things work together for good, I said to him. "Yea mom, I guess they do," he answered and smiled brightly at me.

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