Days Go By…

I need to start blogging again in at least somewhat of a more consistent manner.

It’s not that I have no ideas of what to write or nothing of import to say but I just have not felt that it needed saying or publishing.  Granted, I have been busy but really not that busy.  My life is in one of those never-boring, ever-changing patterns right now.  Lord willing, very soon I’ll actually get around to posting a full update but the brain cells aren’t functioning enough for that tonight.

The changes:

Claire came for a visit, we went to Europe, saw a lot of the world, and then came back to the UAE.  I went back to work and she hung out with my friends.  We fed her strange food and she lived through it.  Then she left me. 😦

I moved into a new apartment.  Both of my former roommates saw fit to enter the blessed state of matrimony and so I needed a new home.  God blessed me richly with a perfect floor plan, a lovely view, and money to actually furnish the place properly.  As I type this I am happily ensconced on my lovely new couch which gets full points for practicality (because that is always the first thing we think about a white couch) and comfort.

I went back to the Special Care Baby Unit at the hospital.  After a season of more change at Oasis Hospital and me running through three different clinics we all agreed that me going back into the SCBU was a great idea.  I was quite happy and then another change came my way.  I will be rotating into OB for 6 weeks since they are short-staffed and need some help.  So off I go to learn another new skill and see what God has planned with this latest change.

That’s really it.  I’ve just been doing my best to enjoy life and immerse myself in the new quiet and routine I have had.  Having my own place makes it so much easier for my thoughts to run free and for me to find the stillness I need to write again.  We shall see if I actually do blog more frequently in the near future.

Currently no vacations are planned and the are no adventures to look forward too other than God’s great plan for my life.  I think that this is going to be a good season.  New friends, the ability to be more hospitable again, and to make a home beautiful has just made the UAE just that much more of a home.  Praying that it continues in this way.

Love to all…

What If We Just Ate The Brownies???

So, I’m beginning to wonder, what is the point of all the dieting and working out if you still can’t eat the brownies without feeling guilty.

I’ve been harping on this whole health thing for several months now.  My little sister is tired of discoveries about my thyroid and adrenal glands.  I’ve gained weight though that is mostly due to stress.  And I am back on my bodyrock.tv exercise bandwagon…and I love it.

But, once again, as I watch all the health nuts ramble away, rejoicing when they eat perfectly and with complete self-control and then kicking themselves when they fail and go on a binge, and now I ask this question:  what is the point of it all?

Why are we working out, dieting, and seeking to resemble the Greek gods of old?  Granted, there is definitely something so beautiful about the picture of the perfectly toned young man or woman in the prime of their youth.  But should that be the focus.  Should our focus and goal be our mortal bodies?  Or should we care more about our souls?

Body or soul?  I think that is the question.  Now, without doubt, both are incredibly important.  You do have to take care of your body and honor it as the temple of the Lord but also remember it is a temporal thing.  This body will become old, diseased, and will return to dust.  You should be careful what you put into it.  You should respect it.  But the time you spend of caring for your body and focusing on that should not outstrip the time you spend caring for the only part of you that is eternal.

 “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness if profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8.

I was randomly reading my bible one day as I was pondering some of this and this verse caught my eye as you can imagine.  It truly made me start to wonder if there was any point to all these push ups, vitamins, iodine drops, and stress I was putting on myself to attain something I was not completely sure I even wanted.

At the end of it all, yes, I really do need to take care of myself but I also do not need to stop living.  I still need to eat the brownies, enjoy the wine, and relish the delights of peach cobbler made of fresh, in season, picked that day peaches.  I also need to make sure I take time to imitate the Proverbs 31 woman.

“She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong” ~Proverbs 31:17

Yes, we are to care for our bodies but our focus should not be for earthly gain.  We must not focus on our bodies so much that we forget our souls.  We turn away from gluttony, drunkenness, and all other forms of vile behavior.  We obey our God.

Our souls are eternal.  They will be a part of us forever.  We probably do not realize the full importance it entails.  Our souls and our hearts will play the far greater role in our walk with Christ, relationships with our families, and our witness to the world.  Cultivate inward beauty.  Let that shine forth from you.  It will be far more valuable.  Embrace modesty for the humility that it is.  Welcome the chance to give yourself for others.  Open yourself to others so that they can perhaps learn from your story and the wonders that God has done for your soul.   After all,

 “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”  ~Proverbs 31:30

I think we should eat the brownies and work out.  Sure, eating brownies will make the slimming process slower and maybe you will never reach 18% body fat (why?) but that might actually please your husband more.  Never forget, Marilyn Monroe, still considered to be one of the world’s most attractive sex icons ever, was, by her measurements, a size 8-12 (depending who you ask).  I have yet to meet a man who when asked, said that he didn’t like curves on a woman.  I’m not recommending obesity…just allow your body to be what God built it to be.  Don’t beat yourself up because you don’t look like a photoshopped image.  Cultivate inward beauty.  It is much more lasting.

After all, you will most likely be more remembered for your personality and love of life that the fact that you were a perfect size 2.

Don’t waste your life.  Enjoy it.  Obey God.  Be blessed and enjoy the gifts that He has given you.  Relish them.

Eat the food…and love every mouthful.  Delight in the brownies for they are good for your soul!