Fitness Friday

This blog is supposed to be about spiritual and physical fitness, but I mainly been using it as my spiritual journal and don't seem to talk about my physical fitness much. I decided to make Friday's "Fitness Friday" and let you know I am doing physically.

This week my weekly average is going to be finally be in my (revised) goal weight range of 130-134. I won't know the exact number until Sunday. My original goal weight range was 127-131, but Sugar Pop thinks I look to thin below 130. I didn't believe him at first, but when I saw the pictures of myself from GMA Week I decided that I looked pretty good. So, if all goes according to plan (and I don't fall into a vat of candy and ice cream this weekend), I will be back to maintenance points next week. I am so excited. I will start at 24 points a day for next week. I may gradually work up to higher points. I want point I had decided that 27 points was where I needed to be to maintain. I may gradually add 1 point a week to get back to there.

I have set myself a strength training goal for July. I want to get in 4.5 hours for the month. The most I have had up to now is 3.2, so this will be a challenge. I hope to see some good results from the extra time.

Sick Day?

This might be too much information:

I do not feel 100% today. I ran on the treadmill last night and felt great. Then I made supper and as we were sitting down to eat I could feel rumblings in my abdomen. The kind of rumblings that feel like a case of diarrhea might be looming. Later in the evening I did have a spell. Normally once that happens I immediately feel better. But the rumblings continued through the night, but I haven't had any more spells of diarrhea.

I know it is not from what I had for supper as I felt it coming on before then. I could be from a hard treadmill run (30 minutes at 5.6 mph - the fastest I have ever gone), but I would think I would be feeling better by now.

I've considered staying home today, but I don't feel bad enough too. I probably would if I could have the house to myself, but Honey is here and will be all day because she has the day off work.

I always feel guilty taking sick days. Even when I am sick enough to go to the doctor, I still feel guilty.

So...I'm headed to work. Hopefully the rumblings will cease.

A month with Honey

Just a few more days until Honey leaves for church camp. She has been at our house since June 1st. I am ready for the month to be over. Honey is a great kid and she is fun to be around and doesn't give us any trouble (although she did get grounded for a week this month because we checked up on her and she wasn't where she was supposed to be). She never talks back. She will always (eventually) do what you ask her to. She doesn't play her music too load. She does pretty good picking up after herself. I really am lucky to have such a good step-daughter. BUT I am not used to this and I am ready for the month to be over. I always thing that someday she might decide to come live with us all the time. I would love the extra money that would give us (because we wouldn't be paying child support), but I wonder how well I would handle it. Would I eventually turn into a nagging step-mother? I would hope that I wouldn't, but I know there have been days this month that I have had to bite my tongue to keep from being a nag. I think women just have a nag gene. Have you ever met a woman who wasn't "good" at nagging?

Household Chores

Things I take care of around the house
Make the bed almost every day. (Sugar Pop is off on Mondays and sometimes sleeps in so sometimes he makes the bed on Monday.)
Pay bills
Reconcile bank accounts
Meal Planning
Make Grocery List
Grocery Shopping (occassionally Sugar Pop goes with me)
Majority of the house cleaning (However, if it gets bad enough Sugar Pop will do it. He will help if I am cleaning when he is home and is an excellent vacuumer).
Unload the dishwasher
Wash the clothes
Take clothes to the dry cleaners
Send birthday cards
Sweep the garage (Sugar Pop will do it if its gets really bad, but I try to do it weekly)

Things Sugar Pop takes care of around the house
Repairs
Gardening
Makes the coffee every night
Refills the humidifier
Checks the doors at night and sets the alarm

Things we both do
Take out the trash
Check the mail
Fill up our vehicles and get oil changes
Cook supper - We both participate in the process almost every night. Occasionally one of us will do the whole thing.
Clean up after supper - same as above
Ironing

Judgement

Do you have a copy of My Utmost for His Highest Yet? If you've been reading my blog for long, you know that I refer to it a lot. (Next year I will probably be reading Streams in the Desert again, so that will be what I am quoting then.)

Today's Reading said:

Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, "My God, judge me as I have judged others"? We have judged others as sinner -- if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.

Praise the Lord that He doesn't judge the way I do.

Heavenly Father, Help me to look at others through your eyes instead of through my judgemental ones. Amen.

Prayer List

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! ~ Job 42:10

I read this in My Utmost for His Highest today. At one time I had a prayer list of people I prayed for every day. I can not remember the last time I went through that list and prayed for them. I opened it up today and prayed. I have updated it and moved it to an excel spreadsheet that I open every day so that I will see it and remember to spend time in prayer for others. If the Lord blesses me and restores my fortunes (thinking "provides me with a new job") that would be wonderful, but I already feel blessed because I prayed for someone else.

Genovese

Father Frank Pavone wrote in his column this week about the Genovese syndrome. He said:

One of the experiments regarding the Genovese Syndrome began with a man sitting in a room alone. Not knowing the experiment had already begun, he saw smoke pouring into the room from under the door of the next room. He immediately got up and alerted others that there was a problem. Later, three people were placed in that same room, and smoke began pouring in. They coughed and fanned the smoke away from their faces, but nobody got up or said anything.

The experiment showed that we don’t just look at the evidence of an emergency. We look at the reactions of others. If they don’t get excited, we reinterpret the data and conclude that things aren’t as bad as they seem.

The media distorts the reactions of others. There are plenty of people who are upset about the abortion issue and think the killing of an unborn child is a horrible thing, but the media is in favor of abortion and it is reflected in the way the report the issue. They are pro-abortion (or pro-choice as they call it) and they show abortion in a favorable light. This is also evident in the way they are reporting on the environment. They are trying to stir up hysteria about the "greenhouse effect" when there is no scientific evidence to support it.

Scriptures on my Bulletin Board at Work

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ~ Galatians 6:9

Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart. ~ 1 Samuel 16:7

Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble and always be prayerful. ~ Romans 12:12

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ~ Philippians 4:6

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. ~ Proverbs 31:30

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him and he will help you. ~ Psalm 37:5

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. ~ Proverbs 15:1

Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. ~ Proverbs 3:5-6

If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. ~ Job 36:11

Therefore, prepare you minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be give you when Jesus Christ is revealed. ~ 1 Peter 1:13

The Lord will keep you from all harm -- he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. ~ Psalm 121:7-8

Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. ~ Romans 12:2

Don't lose a minute building on what you've been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others. ~ 2 Peter 1:5

What matters is not your outer appearance - the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes - but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. ~ 1 Peter 3:3-4

Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. ~ Psalm 127:1

The Routine Life

No one is born either naturally or supernaturally with character; it must be developed. Nor are we born with habits--we have to form godly habits on the basis of the new life God has placed within us. We are not meant to be seen as God's perfect, bright-shining examples, but to be seen as the everyday essence of ordinary life exhibiting the miracle of His grace. Drudgery is the test of the genuine character...We all have those times when there are no flashes of light and no apparent thrill to life, where we experience nothing but the daily routine with its common everyday tasks. The routine of life is actually God's way of saving us between our times of great inspiration which come from Him. ~ My Utmost for His Highest

I love my routine life. I miss it when I am thrown out of my routine. My routine has been out of whack for a few weeks now due to our kitchen remodel. But we are getting very close to being finished. I am so ready.

Keeping Company

Monkey see, monkey do. When we spend enough time around those in a particular scene, our actions usually become similar. It is just the way we're made. And it is especially true if the one in the minority is insecure and unsure...All things being equal, if you run with bad company, you will be corrupted. The good won't rub off on them. Their bad will rub off on you. ~ Living above the Level of Mediocrity by Charles Swindoll via the Life Lessons Devotional

I struggle a lot with my eating habits when I am around people who don't eat healthy. At home and in my routine, I do great. But get me out of my routine and put me around people who don't eat the way I do and I pick up their habits quickly. I don't like to draw attention to myself and refusing dessert at a party is one way to quickly draw attention to yourself. (It's not that I don't ever eat dessert, it's just that I like to save desserts for special occasions and then they need to be GREAT desserts; not just a sheet cake at an office birthday party.)

On a good note, our office is going to start Weight Watchers at Work next week. Almost everyone is participating. Which means that the company I keep at work is going to be changing their habits to mine.

It's Time for a New Job

Seth Gogin disagrees with the common adage, “Winners never quit,and quitters never win.” He maintains that successful people know when to quit something that’s not working. The miserable path you’re on may be a dead-end – you need to quit and find another road.

I read this in an email newsletter I receive. I want to remember it as I am looking for "another road."

Serenity in Spite of Trials

People don't recognize God at work in a "perfect" woman -- one with no scars, no troubles, no struggles. But Christ is revealed in a woman who has scars as a result of divine healing, serenity in spite of trials, and peace in the face of uncertainty. ~ The Dieter's Prayer Book

There are people I have met and know that glow with the love of God, even though they are enduring many hardships. My sister-in-law is one. She suffers from MS, but her faith in God is strong and she radiates with the joy of the Lord. Unlike myself. I can fall into a pit of despair because I don't have a kitchen sink. Fortunately my new kitchen sink was installed yesterday.

Listening

Some people are always complaining. Every time you talk to them you get an organ recital. It begins with their liver, then it moves onto their stomach, plantar warts, dandruff. Who knew there were so many organs? You know what holiness is? Listening to all of that as if you had never heard it before. Holiness is listening to the joke your've heard twenty-five times and laughing at the punch line for the twenty-sixth time, while keeping your mouth shut. Holiness is putting up with the gripes of others with tenderness. All of that is holiness. ~ Mother M. Angelica

Listening with love means listening with compassion and sincerity; it means listening without interrupting or zoning out. It means listening without trying to solve the problem. Many times problems disappear into the thin air as soon as they are listened to. ~ Deacon Bill Steltemeier

Judged by a Perfectionist

Saturday we were at a family reunion. I was using the restroom and noticed the hostess had left toiletries on the counter and yeast infection medicine out (and various other things were left out around the house). While I was sitting there I was being judgemental and wondering why she didn't put those things up. She knew she was having company today afterall. Then it occurred to me. This was not about her being a lousy housekeeper. It was about me being a judgemental perfectionistic people-pleaser. She is actually comfortable enough with who she is that she didn't feel the need to have a perfectly clean spotless house and hide the fact that she has a yeast infection. The Judger has been judged.

What you say

When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need--words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you. ~ Ephesians 4:29 (NCV)

There is someone I work with who could take this verse to heart. I've watched her over the years and I have learned from her. I have learned how I do NOT want to treat employees. She is in a management position. She can be a nice person and do nice things for the employees, but you do NOT want to get on her bad side and there is always one person on her bad side and that person can't seem to do anything right (and if they do, all they get is a back-handed compliment). If they have a problem, it is always an attitude of "what did you do wrong to screw this up." Yes, there are times when people make mistakes and need correction. I do not have a problem with criticizing someone's work, but you need to take the time to politely correct them and teach them. This person doesn't just criticize the work, she will criticize the person, especially if that is the person who is at the top of her sh*t list. There was an employee in our office one time that I loved. She was young, a hard-worker, a fast-learner, willing to please, cute, with a great personality. She was an ex-marine and could take a lot of cr*p. She had the potential to be a wonderful employee. She did have some personal problems and sometimes they affected her work. However, with proper counseling and edification she could have overcome those issues. But no, that didn't happen. This person instead chose to cut her down instead of lift her up. Once the girl was considering getting a dog and she told her, "You can't even take care of yourself. How are you going to take care of a dog?" A statement like that does nothing to bring out the best in someone. It doesn't make them want to try harder. It causes them to shut down and not perform to the best of their abilities. The girl eventually got fired. That has been over a year ago and I still miss her. She was one of my best friends at work. Maybe I should have stood up for her and told the person she shouldn't talk to people like that. But, at one time I was on the top of this person's sh*t list and it is not a place I want to be again. And trust me, if I had said anything, that would have put me on the top of the list.

To paraphrase Huey Lewis, "I need a new job, one that won't make me sick."

A Good Heart

A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. ~ Luke 6:45 (NLT)

I got this scripture emailed to me today. (I'm on a list and get a scripture every weekday morning. You can sign up by sending an email.) There are some people in my life that are always negative and there are some people in my life that are always positive. Apparently, this is because of what is in their heart. I've always considered myself a positive person. I have a smile on my face almost all the time. Sure, they are difficult days and days when I am in a bad mood, but I try not to take it out on the people around me. It is (usually) not their fault that I am having a bad day.

This morning I woke up and I had a voice in my head immediately criticizing myself for some things I didn't do yesterday. Bashing myself is NOT a good way to start the day. But then I started making a mental list of the things that I did accomplish and I felt so much better. There were definitely more things done than there were left undone. I am a perfectionist so it is easy for me to spot the bad and the things that are missed. I need to spend more time giving myself (and others) credit for the good and what has been accomplished.

The Lord is my Helper

My assurance is to be built on God's assurance to me. God says, "I will never leave you," so that then I may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear." ~ My Utmost for His Highest

I think I need to repeat the phrase, "The Lord is my helper," over and over and over again. I have lots of worries - not really fears - but worries. Not really even worries necessarily, but thoughts. I'm always planning in my head, what to eat, what to where, when to exercise, how to exercise, the grocery list, the packing list, the snacks for the car, the clothes to pack, the things to do at home, the things to do at work, the next thing I need to do, the thing I need to do in ten minutes, ten hours and on and on and on and on.

And Still Obeys

Screwtape elaborates on the Enemy’s intentions:
Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best...He cannot 'tempt' to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys. —from The Screwtape Letters

All I Need by Bethany Dillon

When the day is done
And there's no one else around
While I'm lying here in bed
You're in my heart, You're in my head
You're all I need, You're all I need
There are a million voices
Calling out my name
But You're the One I want to hear
So make the others disappear

You are all I need when I'm surrounded
You are all I need if I'm by myself
You fill me when I'm empty
There is nothing else
You're all I need

When the morning comes
And Your mercy is renewed
There's a fire in my bones
I'm not afraid to go alone
You're all I need
You're all I need
The sun on my face
I hear You whisper loud
You're still the God that opens seas
Every flower, even me
You're all I need
You're all I need

I'm drawn to everything that You do
Nothing compares with You

I have this song on my workout mix on my iPod. I makes me want to get out and run through a field of wildflowers on a crisp, cool, morning and praise God for the glory of His creation. So far, I haven't had that opportunity, but it works for jogging on the treadmill (and imaging that I'm running through a field of wildflowers).

Discernment

The enemy emphasizes the past, with its mistakes and heartaches, the Comforter exalts the present help of our Lord (Psalm 46:1). The devil delights in taunting us with our weaknesses, and the Lord reminds us of the wealth of his riches in grace. Condemnation concerns itself with our failures; conviction shows us the faithfulness of God. The tempter teases us with immediate gain at any cost; the Trustworthy One tells us of eternal gain, and reminds us of Passion and Patience in Bunyan's House of the Interpreter. The father of lies magnifies our problems, by showing their hopelessness, impossibility, and pain; the God of all grace reminds us of the promises, whereby we can hope against hope; for "suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint us" (Romans 5:3-5). Thus we know that pain can mean gain.

The false angel of light would have us walk by sight and earthly wisdom ("the counsel of the ungodly," Psalm 1:1); the Lord of life, who sees the end from the beginning, would have us walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), and thereby please our heavenly Father (Hebrews 11:6). The enemy would have us see the hosts of evil against us rather than the hillsides covered with ministering spirits (2 Kings6:15-17). He would keep us dwelling upon the injuries from others, until we become ineffective in service, rather than forgetting the things that are behind and pressing forward (Philippians 3:13-14) in the spirit of Him who said, "Father, forgive them." The Vanquished would have us feel the nails and the thorns, the Victor would have us see the triumph of Calvary's tree.

The discipline of discernment requires that we follow the tenets of divine revelation, lest we fall before the wrath of the tempter. We are to meet his subtlety, selfishness and sophistry in the same way as did the Captain of our salvation, with the unequivocal statement, "It is written" (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10). We also are to live by the Word of God, are not to tempt the Lord our God, and are to worship Him only. We are to believe that as we commit our way unto the Lord and trust also in Him, He brings to pass His will (Psalm 37:5) We are to trust that He is able to fill us with the knowledge of His will (Colossians 1:9), and to protect us from ways of the destroyer. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard again him" (Isaiah 59:19) As we submit ourselves without reservation unto God, and resist the devil, the latter will flee from us (James 4:7).

By the Word, by the Spirit, by faith, by submission to the divine will, and by resistance to any appeal to self and sin we discern between the way of God and the path of the destroyer. (From The Disciples of Life by V. Raymond Edman via the Life Lessons Devotional)

Simple Peace

The willingness to be and to have, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else, would set our hearts at rest, and we would discover that the simpler the life the greater the peace. ~ Elisabeth Elliot from The Shaping of a Christian Family via the Life Lessons Devotional.

I desire a simple, peaceful life. I want to eliminate all "unnecessary striving" as Reed Arvin calls it.

Heavenly Father, open my eyes to see those things I can eliminate and give me the faith and courage to release them that through having a simple life I may come to know you more. Amen.