Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
*Galatians 6:1

Labels: repentance, restoration

Hello. My name is a suburban housewife and I am overweight- by at least 25 pounds. This isn't the "I'm-a-size-2-and-I've-just-gained-half-an-ounce-and-can't-fit-into-my-skinny-tight-ankle-zipper-jeans" overweight either. This is more of the "I-am-35-years-old-and-I-can't-eat-whatever-I-want-to-eat-whenever-I-want-to-eat-it" flavor. Add to that fact that my children aren't toddlers anymore and I don't spend every waking minute chasing after them and you might say my lifestyle is a bit, um, sedentary. I am ashamed to say this, people. The truth of the matter is that I don't really like to sweat. Well, if I'm at the beach or a pool or planting flowers or something like that then I don't mind it so much. But sweating for exercise? That's not very high up on my approval meter.

Lest you get the wrong idea, let me say- in my defense- that I am all for the theory of exercise. Yes, it is beneficial. I've even been known to get up at 6:00 AM to power walk for 45 minutes (right Ruth and Rebecca?). But it is quite cool at that time of the day, so sweat doesn't really factor in that particular equation. (A little known secret about a suburban housewife is that I was a college cheerleader back in the day. I know. Really sweaty at times. But somehow I wasn't bothered by it much way back in feudal times!)

I even recognize the benefits of exercise. When I started teaching school again, I quickly dropped about 8 pounds in the first two months. Why? Mostly because my classroom is up 18 stairs to the second floor, and the bathroom, office, and teacher workroom are all on the other side of the building- down those stairs and sometimes back up another flight. The fun part was that I was able to wear clothes that had taken up residence in the dark spaces of my closet.

But now I have to face the cold, hard facts: heart disease runs in my family. My grandmother died of a heart attack at the age of 62. That's young, y'all. My dad suffered a massive heart attack before he was 50. That's even younger. My dad's siblings have a medical "rap sheet" that is the proverbial mile-long. Add hypertension and diabetes to the mix and I'm starting to think, "Maybe I should look at this health thing a little more seriously." Thankfully, my mother's family tends to have low blood pressure, so I'm a little more balanced on that end of the spectrum. But still.

Well, apparently my sister has decided to help me along in this area. She has lovingly registered me for this. Ambitious, I know. But I'm a Georgia girl, y'all, and this is heritage and tradition. Besides, I found out last week that Tracy, Tom, Andy, and Chris from church are all undertaking the same endeavor. Andy, who are you kidding? After a marathon, this thing will seem like a walk in the park. Oh, wait. It actually is a walk in the park! Well, eventually, anyway.

So, in the words of that famous song:

Like walkin' in the rain (maybe) and the snow (not likely)
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feeling like a part of you is dyin' (most definitely)........
The things we do for love...