Bad Bertha?

Children amaze me! They really do. I am often struck by the simple fact that they can make almost anything fun. Even walking on the treadmill. I have one sitting in my bedroom and it gets used about 3 to 4 times a week. There is a huge difference between how I use it and how my nieces and nephew use it. I have to get myself psyched up for it. I set a time in my head, then about 15 minutes before it's time to step on that beast I start preparing for what's to come. I put on my workout clothes including my special tennis shoes. I grab a magazine or a book, because you know I have to divert my attention so that my mind doesn't dwell on the fact that I am actually doing something good for my body. Then I get my water, eye glasses, Ipod, headphones, Kleenex, telephone (both cell and home phone), and last but not least, a book just in case I get bored with the magazine. I turn on the machine and wait for it to display the light, which tells me IT is now ready for me. I step on and do everything within my power to keep my mind somewhere else. I don't understand why doing something so good for me has to be so overly involved. Well....I guess it doesn't have to be but I sure make it that way.
So I am standing in the bathroom putting on my makeup before I take my nieces and nephew to school when Cade, my nephew, comes in with a simple request. "Auntie can I walk on that walking machine." He must have seen that I was blown away by his request because when I made eye contact with him he shrugged his shoulders and said, "What?" "You want to walk on the treadmill?" I asked. "Yes. It's fun," he replied. I couldn't believe my ears. Did he know that this machine was invented for exercise not for fun. Did he know that thousands of Americans buy machine after machine after machine only to let them sit in their bedrooms offering up daily allowances of guilt and shame for not being used? Did he know that that beast was created for adults for the sole purpose of trying to get in shape? That machine is not fun....it is WORK! So like a good Auntie I said yes, he could walk on it. I walked up to the machine and instantly broke out into a sweat. "Calm down," I said to myself. I am turning on the treadmill for someone who wants to have "fun." I flipped the switch and watched as my nephew stepped on with the biggest grin on his face. I heard my nieces coming down the hall. Before they even rounded the corner they began asking if they too could take part in the joy of walking on the treadmill. Ha, who would have thought something so painful for me could be so fun for them. As I stood at my mirror listening to them banter over who's turn it was next and how long they each got I began thinking. What makes this treadmill so difficult for me and so fun for them. Why do they count the minutes before they can get on and I count the minutes before I can get off. Why do they, with no preparation I might add, step on smiling from ear to ear, and I step on with a look of determination to make it at least 29 minutes? Then it dawned on me...this is work for me because somebody along the way told me it was supposed to be. That exercise, while good for you was not fun. That it was a necessary venture for good health but that it would be at the cost (heaven forbid) of effort. Those kids didn't see it that way. Maybe my mind set is the reason why getting on Bertha (yes I named my treadmill) seems to be more of a duty than a benefit. I find this with many things in life. My mindset often has an affect on how I approach activities, people, and even my God.
I love The Message's take on Philippians 4:8. It says...
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious--the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
I know you might be saying..."Kim, I think Paul was talking about things that were a little more spiritual." I would agree with you, however why can't we apply God's truth to EVERYTHING in our lives. Why can't we take truth and apply it stroke by stroke into the nooks and crannies of our everyday living. Today when I step on that treadmill I will no longer think about how much work it is, but how thankful I am that I can walk. How thankful I am that we had the finances to even buy Bertha. I will thank the Lord for giving this day and this moment to put all else away and just talk with Him. I will change my mindset to the beauty of all that the Lord has given me rather than on the ugliness that was past down about that dreaded word "exercise." In fact, I will start by changing the treadmills name. She will no long be called Bertha, but is now Esther. Why? Because she was created for "such a time as this."



Blessed to be His,
Kim T.