How often do you take a day off from your workout routine, only to spend the day saddled with guilt?

It’s that time of year when almost everyone talks about or at least thinks about New Year’s Resolutions so…

…I guess I could start my “talking about” New Year’s Resolutions by answering the question in the title of this post.

I have taken the day off from my workout routine every single day since March of 2020 and I have not been saddled with guilt even once.

I mean, I’ve wondered how I went from going to the gym 3-5 times a week nearly religiously for better than 15 years to nothing in literally the blink of an eye. But guilt? Nah, not really.

Although I am getting too old to work out at the intensity I did a few years ago, I do need to get back to doing something.

But, exercise aside, what I really want to do is this.

Dear Lord,

Throughout the coming year I pray that I will thank you unceasingly for your precious gift of time. I pray that I will fully appreciate each of the over 31 million seconds 2023 has to offer and that I will not squander even one.

I pray, father, that every one of my goals, actions, words, and thoughts this coming year will line up with your perfect word and your divine will.

Lord, show me what you want from me in 2023 so I don’t begin yet another year with a collection of obligatory and insincere resolutions to simply do more of what’s good, less of what’s bad, or to improve myself in some earthly and eternally insignificant way.

Lord, instead of my own resolutions, I pray that you make me a humble servant who intentionally and deliberately seeks your will in everything I do and with every plan I make.

In Jesus name,

Amen!

Word for word, that is exactly the same prayer I have said I would continually pray all year long every year since at least 2015. And, here’s the thing, I haven’t done it and that does cause me quite a bit of guilt.

Do I thank God unceasingly for His precious gift of time? No.

Do I not squander even one second? There is a little bit of hyperbole in that part of the prayer because it would be impossible to not squander even a second. But I squander hours a day sometimes, I know when I am doing it, and I continue to do it anyway. Yeah, I’m busy with work, school, and life but, often, I am not quite as busy as I pretend to be.

Do every one of my goals, actions, words, and thoughts line up with God’s perfect word and will? Some do, of course, but not all, not even close.

Do I make insincere resolutions to do more of what’s good and less of what’s bad? Not counting it as a win, necessarily, but no, not really, because I know I won’t follow through, I never have.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that my Christian faith has consisted, mostly, of believing the right things and having good intentions but falling woefully short when it comes to doing the work. Or, to put it a better way since the Christian faith is not based on works, I have lived my life, to a large extent, like someone who looks at himself in the mirror and immediately walks away and forgets what he looks like (James 1:24).

So my resolutions this year are to get back to the gym and the same prayer I have prayed since 2015. And this time I mean it.

Would You Rather Sweat Your Butt Off When It’s 100 Degrees or Shovel Snow When it’s 30?

OK, still trying to get back into blogging but it’s a rainy day on a holiday week and, let’s face it, I don’t really feel like putting that much effort in so…

Anyway, I ran across that tweet a couple weeks ago and have few thoughts.

Seems like an easy enough question but, is it?

First off, I live in Lousiana where it either being or feeling like it is 100 degrees outside is not all that uncommon. And, here’s the thing, I don’t really mind all that much. Yes, it’s kind of oppressive, and yes, I start breaking a sweat if I do literally anything outside for more than 15 seconds. But the grass still needs to get cut and I have no issue doing it even if it means sweating completely through everything I have on including underwear. Also, and though it seems at this point as if I might chose mowing over shoveling, there is a little too much information missing me to say for sure.

For example. How big is the yard I am mowing? Is there any shade? Is it flat or hilly? Push or riding mower? Are there plenty of drinks? Am I in a rush? Have I worked all day, been to the gym, walked the dog?

As for shoveling. Is it a dry 30 degrees like a typical 30 degree day in Montana? Or is it a damp and cloudy 30 degree day like we get in LA sometimes when everyone feels like they are about to freeze to death? Because, I’ll tell ya, it matters quite a bit. And, is it windy and 30 or calm and sunny? I can walk around naked in 30 degree weather if the sun is shining and the wind isn’t blowing, and it would feel great. That is, as long as the humidity is low. So, what’s the humidity like, where isnrhwbsun, and what is the wind doing in this hypothetical Twitter shoveling situation?

And what about the snow itself? A few inches or a foot and a half? Is it the fo a for nothing dry stuff that just blows around all winter or the wet heavy stuff that’s good for making snowballs? Driveway, sidewalk, or both? Long driveway or short? And, am I shoveling in the dark after working all day or at my leisure on Saturday morning?

All that being said, I would rather shovel a fairly small driveway and sidewalk if there was less than six inches of good snowball snow after a few cups of coffee on a relaxing Saturday morning if it was sunny, exactly 30, with low humidity, and there was no wind. If any of those conditions were not met, I would rather do anything at all in 100 plus weather even if I have to take periodic breaks to wring out my underwear. And that includes stadium runs, burpees, and carrying 5 gallon buckets of cement.