Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: WORK OUT (05/20/21)
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TITLE: Unrecognizable | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tammy Ortung
05/27/21 -
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ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Monday seems like the most logical day to begin a new work out regimen. I drag myself out of bed early to take advantage of the cool summer morning. I throw on my work out gear and stretch a little before power-walking around my neighborhood. After the first lap around the half-mile loop, I am already bored with the perfectly manicured lawns and budding flowers lining the foundations of the custom built homes. Even the sprinkling of cookie-cutter homes, like mine, built after the initial builder went bankrupt, seem like a redundant landscape. Yet I keep trudging along the sidewalk that marks a pathway through our development, one mile, then one and a half—should I do two? Nah, it’s my first day, I think, I’ve done enough for today. I climb three steps onto the front porch, stretch a little more before going inside and plopping on the livingroom floor to do some crunches.
The next day is a repeat of the first. This time, I force myself to do the extra lap for a full two miles and feel as if I’ve accomplished some major feat.
After only two days, my legs are stiff and rubbery. So over the next week, I do dishes, mop floors, vacuum, visit with the grandkids, develop a headache, or one of the many other excuses I come up with to get out of working out.
A month later, the out-of-shape, middle-age woman still peers back at me. I begin to recognize her more and more each day, and I wonder if I will ever see the person I expect to see in the mirror again. I think back to the two times when I was in “the best shape of my life.”
“How long have you been working out?” a girl asked as my friend and I pedaled side-by-side elliptical machines. I glanced over, but she wasn’t looking at me.
“A few months,” my genetically-gifted friend replied.
“You look so buff,” she exclaimed. My friend beamed.
“I hate you,” I said as the girl walked away. Though I was only half-joking, there was a measure of jealousy behind my words I couldn’t deny. “I live for the day when someone says that to me.”
“Do you work out?” several people asked. “What did you do to get your arms looking like that?” It had only taken five years of working out four to five days a week, but all my hard work had finally paid off.
Those glory days feel like ancient history now. Sleeveless shirts and smaller pant sizes from that era, sit in my closet collecting dust. Surgery, followed by two years of back pain, a sprained knee, twisted ankle, and one excuse after another have brought me to this moment of extreme laziness and inactivity.
Yet it isn’t just my physical body that needs a daily work out to remain healthy, my spiritual life needs exercise and regular conditioning as well. The Bible says, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2 NIV).
I seriously doubt my mind is being renewed any more than my body is by sitting like a sweet potato on the sofa watching too much television. I’ve heard people say that “You never retire from God,” and I’ve watched women, much older than I, volunteer hours at the food bank, serve every Sunday morning, and regularly lead Bible Studies. Unlike me, they are living healthy, energetic lives of purpose. Shouldn’t I also be living for the day of Jesus' return? I want to do better, but I am unable to change on my own.
“Lord, give me strength and endurance to run the race you have planned for me. Give me a passion for meditating your Word and renew my mind. In Jesus Name Amen.”
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