Out of Shape!

For those of you who read our blog regularly you know I am the health nut who recently battled a kidney stone.  All is well now and the stone is gone.  One of the difficulties I faced was the fact that I was unable to exercise as strenuously as I had up to that point.  Well, once I got the all clear from the urologist (the kidney doctor) I got the bright idea to pick up with exercise right where I left off.  Oh!  I should really think before I act!  I bought a mountain bike around the first of February and I had been riding a little prior to my stone so, I decided to hop on the ole bike and take off for a healthy spin.  I wear a heart rate monitor when I workout (thanks to research and suggestions from Anita) and I have a range that I try to stay in for aerobic burn.  Off I went on my journey.  I rode around one of my old neighborhoods that I thought would be fairly easy.  There were some hills but nothing that I felt I couldn't handle.  Boy was I wrong.  I huffed and puffed and pedaled and sweat for 30 minutes up hills that were never that difficult when I was better physically conditioned.  My heart rate monitor beeped at me like it was begging for mercy from the constant upward battle I was attempting and I came to the realization that the 3 weeks I had not been able to exercise had left me very out of shape. 

I compare my bike riding experience to the times I have neglected my Bible study.  Maybe that sounds strange but, it's true.  It seems like some days can start out so busy and I fail to start with my study time.  It's easy to get our spiritual lives out of shape just like we get out of shape physically.  I never mean to neglect my study time although, I have learned that I do allow other things to get in the way of it sometimes. When things are going well I seem to place my studies on the back burner however, when the going gets tough the Bible is the first place I go.  I know this is not the way Jesus intended our relationship to be so, how do we get back in shape?  Open our Bibles daily and read, study, pray, ask questions, go to church and fellowship with other Christians.  Just like exercising with a buddy can help us be more accountable, so does surrounding ourselves with other Christians.  I may not be perfect every day but I am working on my spiritual muscles too!

"For you were bought for a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's."  1 Corinthians 6:20

Blessings to all,
Latasha