I have spent a lot of my adult life trying to be healthy. I have tried to eat right and have tried to stay active. I have done this for a number of reasons. One is that it is a form of stress relief for me. It helps my state of mind when I can just get in some good exercise and feel good about it. It also is something that just makes me happy. I truly enjoy doing it. Most importantly, it just makes me feel better. I have found that my moods are better and I have more energy when I am active, not to mention that it helps slow the aging process.
It took me a long time to figure this next part out though. What I have found in recent years is that it is not just the exercise that is really important to being healthy. What I put into my body is just as much, if not more important. I used to exercise and stay active so I could eat what I wanted and not gain weight. I have found over the last few years that if I eat well, I feel even better. I find it easier to lose weight, I have more energy, and am just overall happier.
Here is what else I have noticed. With three kids and a busy lifestyle, consistency is near impossible when it comes to diet and exercise. I go through spurts. I am really active and a healthy eater for awhile. Then life gets crazy and I get away from that for awhile. When this happens, I feel bad. Not only do I feel bad emotionally because I worked so hard to be good at it and feel like I let myself down, but I feel bad physically. I just don’t have the energy that I have when I am consistent. My moods aren’t as good. Just my overall well-being is greatly effected. Does that sound familiar to another aspect of our lives?
I spent the last few days in Oklahoma City with our softball team while they played in the state tournament. That means not eating my normal diet. That means eating at restaurants every meal of the day, besides hotel breakfast. As much as I’d like to say that I stuck to my diet perfectly, I can’t. I ate a lot of things that I don’t normally eat when I am home. I ate lot of things that tasted amazing. They were so good in the moment. But later, like now, I don’t think so fondly of those choices. I don’t feel good. When you get used to eating certain things that are healthy for your body physically, then you change that up and eat a lot of things that aren’t healthy, it definitely effects the way you feel.
As I’m driving home from OKC Saturday, I couldn’t help but think about how this is so much like my spiritual life. I’m going to bet that many reading this can relate. I hope some people can anyway (I don’t mean that in a bad way for you as you read on). I bet that I’m not alone in this. Just like it took many years to realize that what I put into my body effects how I feel, it took me a long time to truly realize that what I put into my mind spiritually effects how I feel spiritually as well. That comes with maturity as a Christian. It took me longer than many to mature spiritually, but I am finally improving. What we feed our spiritual self effects how we feel. It effects our moods. It effects how we treat people. It effects our happiness. It effects so many aspects of our life.
Just like I used to work out so I didn’t gain weight, I used to be just spiritual enough that I didn’t think of myself as a bad person. I thought that was good enough for a long time. I thought I was doing good for myself. Boy howdy, was I wrong. I later learned that was far from the truth. We don’t want to try and be just a good enough Christian that we get by. That isn’t a true servant’s heart. That’s not loving God and loving our neighbor. That’s loving ourself and being selfish. That’s doing what we want instead of what God wants from us.
As we mature as Christians, there is another challenge that we face. Just like consistency in my diet, consistency as a Christian is constantly challenging. There are so many things that will try and pull us away. We have to keep the mindset that we will not give in. Does that mean we never slip? No, absolutely not. There will be times, just like this weekend, that we will fall off the wagon. We will veer from our intended path. It happens to everyone. Just like that food that tasted so good this weekend, there will be people that tell us that things that are spiritually bad for us are ok. They will try and convince us that it will be fun and that those worldly things will feel good and be so much fun. We have to be strong enough to not fall into that trap. But when (not if) we do, we just don’t feel as good. We aren’t as peaceful. Our overall outlook on everything is effected.
I have some work to do this week to get back on track and feel better. I have to get my diet back in check. The great thing is I have the ability to do that if I choose to. I can refocus and get back to where I need to be. (As I knew what I was writing about this week, I get to church this morning and I see what is in the picture at the beginning of this post. It just so happens that the apple fritters are my favorite. But, I can truthfully say, I said NO). Our spiritual life is no different. We will all slip at times. We will all have highs and lows, but the great thing about our Lord is that we can refocus and get back on track and He is always there for us. In fact, if we watch, He will many times give us signs here and there and put things in our life to help with this. We just have to be willing and faithful and He will supply those opportunities.
Maybe you are in one of those lows right now. Maybe you have went through a rough stretch and it’s time to get refocused. Maybe you are on one of those highs right now and feel like your spiritual nutrition couldn’t be better. I don’t know where you are at. But I encourage you to figure that out. See where you are. Look at where you are and see what you need. If you need to readjust your spiritual diet, then by all means, do it. Get back on track where you need to be. It’s not too late to make changes. Maybe you have never been on a spiritual nutrition plan at all. Guess what, that’s ok. It’s not too late either. All you have to do is get with someone that can share the good news with you. Get with someone that can fill your mind and soul with exactly what it needs that will lead you to spiritual nutrition.
Whatever our situations may be, may our highs be long, and our lows be short. I pray that our spiritual nutrition will be dialed in. When things get in the way and we fall away from our spiritual diet and we get away from feeding our mind full of Godly things, I hope that we get back at it quickly. I pray that we find the right spiritual diet that leads to nothing but God’s peace and we feel God’s love in our life!
Love God, Love People
Have a great week and God bless!