Tag Archives: spiritual

March 1: weight loss kickoff

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And so it begins! Starting today I’m modifying my eating and exercise regiments. The plan is to lose 22 pounds and average at least 10,000 steps per day as recorded by my Fitbit (70,000 weekly). Included in the 10,000 steps will be at least one 20 minute walk daily to elevate my heart rate.

With great sadness I will give up diet killing snack nibbling that pads calorie intake and frustrates attempts at weight loss. I plan to increase my water intake daily to aid fat burning. I also evoke portion control on evening meals.

I endeavor my fight until this goal is accomplished. Milestone victories will include a reward (tbd). I’ve marked some milestones at -3 lbs., -7 lbs., -12, lbs., -17 lbs. and -22 lbs. As the days get warmer I intend to ramp up my exercise routine, which will increase the number of steps recorded on my Fitbit.

I decided to allow one luxury in this round of weight loss, an evening mug of hot cocoa. I’ll include the recipe for Mom’s hot chocolate mix in a future post. Since it’s a homemade recipe, I can control the amount of each ingredient added.

My spirit will focus on how fortunate I am to be healthy at this stage of my life. Using the Psalms I will meditate on the many blessings I currently enjoy and the value of my life in God’s eyes. If I have a bad day trying to maintain my regiment, I will acknowledge it, pick myself, and keep going.

Hear me, Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. Guard my life, for I am faithful to you; safe your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long. Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you. Psalm 86:1-4

Losing weight

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One thing I’ve learned about weight loss over the past several decades, it’s not as easy as it used to be. When I was younger, I was much more active and my metabolism was higher, therefore I burned more calories per day. I could “cheat” on a diet and get away with it. Oh my, how times have changed.

For me to lose weight now I need to employ a more holistic approach. Weight loss will have to include mind, body and spirit. Otherwise, I am likely to fail. Now the trick is to figure out how to do that.

The mental aspect: I intend to write down on paper a start date and what I plan to accomplish. For me, seeing something spelled out reinforces it. This includes breaking down my main goal into smaller milestones. The physical aspect: this includes the obvious, diet and exercise. I intend to spell out the regimens I will use. The spiritual aspect: this adds a mystical element to it. It attempts to keep my mind and body from wanting what I am denying it. When I reward a milestone (sub goal), I bolster my spiritual and mental well-being.

So, if I want to lose 20 pounds I should break it down into a few smaller milestones and capture those in writing. I should decide what type of diet I’m going to use, whether it’s low carb, low fat, portion control, if I’m eliminating snacking, etc. My plan needs to include what form of exercise I’m doing, whether its counting steps with a Fitbit or exercising for 15-20 minutes, etc. Spiritual discipline, I’ve discovered over the years, can bolster mental and physical capabilities. Personal devotion can play a part. Also, focusing on having a positive attitude and being thankful for what I already have and not what I lack (or can’t eat) has a bearing on how long I can endure a diet.

Be of good courage!

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Wait for the LORD;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD!

Psalm 27:14 ESV

Freedom

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memorial-day-354082_960_720As Veteran’s Day approaches I am reminded freedom comes at great cost.  American soldiers paid a price, often with life or limbs, to preserve our freedom.  May God bless our service men and women as they serve our country.

Just as soldiers paid a price for our physical freedom, one solitary person paid the ultimate price for our spiritual freedom.  Jesus died in our stead so we could be free from the bondage of sin which leads to physical death.   Death is not the end for those who believe in Him.  They will experience eternal life on the other side of death.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NLT

The Knowledge of the Holy: part 2

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IMG_0057In the second chapter of his book, Tozer poses the question, “What is God like?”

“When the Scripture states that man was made in the image of God, we dare not add to that statement an idea from our own head and make it mean in the exact image.  To do so is to make man a replica of God, and that is to lose the unicity of God and end with no God at all.”

Tozer goes on to say:

“Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms.  We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need him.  We want a God we can in some measure control.  We need a feeling of security that comes from knowing what God is like…”

Tozer adds that the answer to the question, what God is like, can be answered in the person of His son, Jesus Christ.

“In Christ and by Christ, God effects complete self-disclosure, although He shows Himself not to reason but to faith and love.  Faith is an organ of knowledge, and love an organ of experience.  God came to us in the incarnation; in atonement He reconciled us to Himself, and by faith and love we enter and lay hold on Him.”

We can only begin to understand what God is like if we study what Tozer regards as God’s attributes, which he addresses in the rest of the book.  A divine attribute he says, “is something true about God.”

“A man is the sum of his parts and his character the sum of the traits that compose it.  These traits very from man to man…The doctrine of the divine unity means not only that there is but one God, it means also that God is simple, uncomplex, one with Himself.  The harmony of His being is the result not of a perfect balance of parts but the absence of parts.  Between His attributes no contradiction can exist.”

When we look at God’s attribute of love, using the above above quotation, it is not something He has, love is who he is.  Tozer goes on to discuss many other attributes such as the Trinity, His self existence, eternity, infinitude, omniscience, sovereignty and many more.

It is a great book, which I highly recommend reading.  For those of us with a casual view of God it will shake up our perception of Him.  As you progress through the book, you will be acquainted with the depths of God’s love and the height of His holiness.

Check out this song by Addison Road, “What do I know of holy”.  It certainly captures a desire to know what is God like.