Lunges

I have recently been with the flock of people making the commitment to spend more time in the gym and less time eating junk food and taking too many naps. The good news is that I am feeling consistent with it and have great friends that are doing the same. I decided to pay the money to get a pass to take aerobics classes at the Rec. center. I went to my first one last Wednesday. Let me try to "paint a picture" for you. I walk into the room with mirrors surrounding me, reminding me of just how not in shape I am. The instructors tell us all to get the equipment and get ready for a "killer workout," I had no idea how literal the word "killer" would be in the next hour. Here I am with a huge smile on my face eager to begin. A friendly girl helps me out by telling me how much weight to get. So, the class begins with music that has that really loud, constant, annoying beat. The type of music where you really hate it before because it annoying but even worse after because you know from this moment on you will never be able to listen to that song without remembering the movements and weight you had to lift at each beat. The instructor says, "Alright girls, time to get in shape and burn some calories!" I now lift up my big 5lb weights for each arm as she tells us to do so. "Time to do lunges!" I think to myself, "Lunges? I hate these things!" Little did I know that my hate for them was just beginning. We are in our first 15 minutes of the class and my knees are already shaking in pain as if they are telling me, "Why are you doing this to me?!" Then the instructor who seemed so nice and encouraging in the beginning yells, "You are just through the warm up, let's get serious!" "Oh Lord, is this lady crazy? Has she seen how not fit I am? She thinks I can do as many lunges as her?" I thought to myself. Well, the hour continues on as we move from legs to arms to abs and all the areas of the body that we want to look all nice and fit. Lunges were surely my least favorite thing. I woke up the next day in so much pain that I had a hard time moving, let alone walking up and down the stairs to get to class!
I looked up the word for lunge earlier today and it means, "A sudden forward movement or plunge." Hmm. Let us ponder on that. Now, inside the rec. center we tend to "lunge" into a tough workout plan and get so overwhelmed that we never go back. Outside of the rec. center I want us to think about how we tend to "lunge" and get burnt out in our relationship with the Lord. Now, could it be that the reason we get so "overwhelmed" with our quiet times, service, fellowship that we feel sore or worn out. What if we took our lunge into a more consistent thing? You see, I went to that same workout class this week, and worked out the days before so that I wouldn't be that sore and worn out again, and it actually worked! Sometimes I think about how I tend to go on a retreat or hear some great sermon and I decide, "Today is the day I'm going to make things change. I'm going to be a better friend, better girlfriend, better servant, better this and better that!" While it is not bad to make commitments and make changes in our life for the better I think it is important to remember how great being steady in our lives is. If we are consistently in the Word, consistently spending time with Jesus and praying to Him, we aren't going to encounter as many sore times. For now I am going to go lunge myself into some homework which I haven't been so consistent on because blogging is so much more fun!