Truth Tuesday....Being a Mom

Having kids is…….so many things….
My friend, Rebecca and I often joke that if someone had told us how stressful having kids would be, we would have just chosen to have dogs instead. But, nobody informed us. We also know that if we didn’t have kids, we would be yearning to do so.

Like any mom, when I gave birth to my first son, I was overwhelmed with the love that I felt. I did not know that this level of love even existed. It hadn’t yet, in me. Having a child really is like having your heart walk around on its own. It is an indescribable love. You cannot know it, unless you are a mother. I believe that a mother having a child by adoption feels the same love.

So, when your child is a baby (if they are healthy) it is the most wonderful time. Getting to know this new little person that you just met, but love more than anyone else. If they have medical problems and as the healthy ones grow, it gets scary. What if something happens to them? What if this child is taken from you? What would you do? How would you survive having had this love and lost?

A mother’s love is scary and yet wonderful and beautiful and empowering. Crazy!

My kids make me insane! If you know me at all, this is no surprise. I like to be in control. I like to know exactly what is going to happen. What the outcome will be. Having kids does not fit my picture-perfect fantasy. What if they turn their backs on Christ? What if they choose a lifestyle that I don’t approve of? What if they make really horrible choices? What if they decide that they hate me and never want to see me again after they graduate? Ugh!!!! Any of those things would devastate me.
Although, none of those things would make me love my child any less. It would hurt. I have watched this happen to mothers that I love. It hurts.
I don’t know. I think that I may have preferred to be ignorant of this level of love. That would have been much safer.
I am praying that my kids will grow to be adults that love God and want to walk in His will and plan for their lives. Will they fail? Of course. I do all the time.
But, I know that as much as I love my kids, my God loves them and me, even more. That is a love that I cannot comprehend.
I am guessing that in the end, the good times will outweigh the bad. And maybe I will not remember all of the bad as my boys grow up. My heart’s desire is to have a deep and personal and real relationship with them as they grow and as they go out into the world to make their way. That would make my heart happy.
And in the end…it will all be worth it. Sometimes God gives me little glimpses that makes me think that it is.

Fitness Friday.......

While contemplating which way to go this Friday, I mulled over what “fitness” means. The first definition of “Fitness” on dictionary.com is :
health –noun
1. the general condition of the body or mind with reference to soundness and vigor: good health; poor health.
2. soundness of body or mind; freedom from disease or ailment: to have one's health; to lose one's health.
3. a polite or complimentary wish for a person's health, happiness, etc., esp. as a toast: We drank a health to our guest of honor.
4. vigor; vitality: economic health.

Which perfectly matched what I was thinking. Fitness is not only about your body being “fit” and/or healthy.
There is mental health..spiritual health..physical health..finanical health..relational health..and on and on.

I don’t know about anyone else, but none of these things are easy for me. I know that the key to physical health is resistance. Resistance training involves weights or bands or something that is going to challenge your muscles to work harder than they are accustomed to working. This tears the muscles down so that they can be made stronger.
To be physically fit you need to be able to resist the temptation of food….whether it is quantity that is a struggle or the types of food to which you are attracted. You have to resist.
I struggle with this. You have to be able to keep yourself from doing things that you want (taking a fork to a whole Costco cake) and make yourself do things that you don’t want to do (drag yourself out of bed at the horrendous time of 4:25am to get a bike near a fan for the 5am spin class).
The reward is WONDERFUL. You feel better physically and mentally. You feel stronger, and more in control. You are controlling your body instead of allowing your un-healthy thoughts to control you and keep you where you are sick and tired of being.

Well, I find that this same concept challenges me in all of the other areas of health and fitness also.

I spend money that I don’t have because I really want something that I can’t afford. This is not healthy. I know it is not healthy. It takes the practice of resisting to change your mindset. “If I do not buy this item, do this thing, take this trip that I want so badly right now, it will help me to be able to pay off all of the other things, trips, experiences that I have already thrown away and forgotten about, that are still piled up on my credit card. It will enable me to get to a place that I am able to make a purchase and not regret it when that monthly statement comes.

I KNOW this in my head. I know that the benefit so outweighs the sacrifice. But, when it comes down to telling myself “NO”, I usually give in to the temptation and take the path of least resistance, which only keeps me from growing stronger.

Everything in life worth having, worth being, worth enjoying is a challenge. Things that come too easily do not have much value. How can you truly value something that took no effort?
If someone gave you the car of your dreams would you treat it the same as you would if you had worked for 15 years to save up the money to buy that same car? No! It would have so much more value to you….even though the actual value of the car is the exactly the same.

And then there are relationships. This is another area that the path of least resistance only leads to weakness. Weakening marriages, friendships, parent/child bonds. If we don’t make ourselves do the hard stuff, relationships can wither. Have that hard conversation, say “no” when you need to, deal with the issues as they arise so that you do not wake up one day and realize that the issues have so many caused so many symptoms you don’t even know where to start.

Keeping the house clean. Ugh! The path of least resistance….allowing clutter to build up, laundry piles to grow, dishes accumulate in the sink…leads to a major blow up in our house. But I always seem to go that path! Why can’t I just make myself and my kids, and encourage my husband to get things done at the time so that I don’t have to have a major cleaning session which includes a melt-down and a LOT of yelling and horrible feelings???? WHY???????????



Am I preaching to the choir? I am preaching to myself here! My goal is to be more thoughtful and deliberate regarding the things that I allow myself to do, things that I need to do, what I put in my mouth (and how much of it), needs vs. wants, etc. My focus is going to be, “what is going to help me achieve my fitness/health goals?”.

Is anybody in the same boat? Similar boat? Completely different boat?

I would love to hear your thoughts……….