Day Eleven
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:7-9
Did anyone ever use this to scold you as a child? “You reap what you sow!” or “What goes around, comes around!” I would usually hear this after tormenting my younger siblings. On the flipside, maybe you’ve even used this as an excuse to get even with someone. In looking at this verse, God shed a new light on it and had me look at from a different perspective.
Today is the first day of our ‘burn’ (if you’re doing the Lean In option) and these days can be very challenging for someone who LOVES their carbs. It’s usually on these days that my cravings kick in as I think about all the carbs that I miss (nachos, popcorn, crackers, homemade bread). As I’m feeling sorry for myself, a voice in my head challenged me with this, “you are what you eat. If you’re eating junk food, your body turns to junk. If you’re eating healthy, your body will be healthy.” This is so true. I did the 24DC and for the months that followed I kept eating healthy, sticking to the 80/20 most of the time. I felt great and continued to lose weight and inches and gain muscle. I was healthy! Then I started compromising more often and gave in to what was easy, cheap and convenient- and paid for it. I felt gross, not just cause my pants were getting tighter but because on the inside I just felt… like junk. Ya know? Have you been there? I don’t believe that God wants us to feel like junk, he wants us to have an abundant life, a healthy life. He gave us whole, fresh foods to enjoy and to use properly. Notice that most of the foods we call junk food is filled with ‘man-made’ stuff (preservatives and sugars). If we eliminated all these things from our diet and stuck to the clean, whole foods that God gave us and ate them in regular portions; we’d be fine. We can’t be surprised when we feel like junk after eating lots of junk food, right? My point is not to guilt you into eating healthy but only to encourage you for the path you are on right now. If you’re sticking to the meal plan on the challenge, you are filling your body with some great foods, full of all the things your body needs. You are sowing seeds of a healthy future and an abundant life. You are about half way done with the challenge and for the rest of it, you’ll be picking up some good eating habits and reaping the good that you’ve sown. Be encouraged! My prayer is that you can keep this in mind when those cravings start to eat at you and you feel yourself being pulled to that fast food joint. Don’t give up! You are doing something meaningful for yourself and for the loved ones in your life by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and you will be rewarded. Your body will be able to withstand so much more as the years go by and you’ll have more energy and vitality, too. Hang in there!
Today’s Exercise: Cardio Workout
One of the hardest things to do, in my opinion, is to get through a cardio workout without giving up at some point. I want to challenge you today to get through a cardio workout without giving up. You can choose what that looks like for you, maybe it’s a 20 minute run on a treadmill, or taking a Cardio Kickboxing class at the gym. Whatever you decide, pace yourself well, know your limits. As you push yourself to those limits, and you feel like giving up and throwing in the towel… don’t. Remember that you harvest what you plant and you will be rewarded if you don’t give up.